christine liava'a Posted 24 August , 2003 Share Posted 24 August , 2003 On August the 26th UT (August 27th NZST) the planet Mars will be on its closest approach to the Earth in over 60,000 years. At a distance of only 55.76 million kilometers, earthbound viewers will see Mars as no modern humans have before. Mars takes twice as long a earth to orbit the sun, so every two years, earth catches up to Mars and "overtakes" it, giving us a close up view of this intriguing planet. What makes the August 27th approach special is the timing. As the planets orbits are slightly elliptical, not perfect circles, their orbits bring them closer and carry them further away from other planets orbits in space. Mars' orbit is more elliptical than Earths which brings it closest to earths orbit around the time of perihelion, its closest approach to the sun. It just so happens that Mars' orbit will be bringing Mars on its closest approach to earths orbit, at the exact same time that Earth itself will be passing through that region on its own trip around the sun. A cosmic fluke that comes around only once in a lifetime, if not a number of lifetimes. .................................... So, get out of those libraries, away from those computers, out in the starlight, or to the nearest observatory, and see Mars in its full glory- only another 57, 000 years till next close sighting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kate Wills Posted 24 August , 2003 Share Posted 24 August , 2003 Regular listeners to BBC Radio 4 will know about this, as a three-part series about Mars starts this Wednesday at 9pm, in a programme called Red Planet. There is a listen again facility on the BBC Radio 4 website, so you can hear it at your leisure wherever you may be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw Posted 25 August , 2003 Share Posted 25 August , 2003 It is self evident that the God of War has been more than able at plying his trade during past human history with his supporting planet considerably further distant ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christine liava'a Posted 25 August , 2003 Author Share Posted 25 August , 2003 So what do you reckon will happen on August 26/27 ? Beware! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw Posted 25 August , 2003 Share Posted 25 August , 2003 Christine , I will be getting out my telescope to take a closer look at Mars. No doubt the "wars and rumours of wars" time we live in will deliver some sort of atrocity that Mars can be blamed for ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now