[Steppes] Mars OT, but interesting.

[John de Irwynne]

 This should be of interest to you. This August,
 Earth is catching up to Mars, an encounter that will
culminate in the
 closest approach between the two planets in recorded
history. The next time Mars
 may come this close is in 2287. Due to the way
Jupiter's gravity tugs on
 Mars and perturbs its orbit, astrometry can only be
certain that Mars has
 not come this close to Earth in the last 5,000 years
but it may be as long
 as 60,000 years. The encounter will culminate on
August 27th when Mars comes to within 34.649,589 miles
and will be (next to the moon) the
 brightest object in the night sky. It will arraign a
magnitude of -2.9 and
 will agorae 25.11 arc seconds wide. At a modest 75
power magnification
 Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked
eye. Mars will be easy
 to spot. At the beginning of August Mars will rise in
the east at 10 pm and reach the azimuth at about 3 am.
But by the end of August when
 the two planets are closest, Mars will rise at
nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky
 
 at 12:30 am. That's pretty convenient when it comes
 to seeing something that no human has seen in
recorded history.
 So, mark your calendar at the beginning of August to
 see Mars grow
 progressively brighter throughout the month. SHARE
THIS, NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN.
 


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