The Opposition of Mars 2014

The Opposition of Mars occurs every 26 months and the next opposition is April 8th.

Hopefully the weather cooperates and will be able to view Mars through my telescope. Passing along the info


2012-2025 Mars Oppostion


Mars through the 2014 opposition season

By the time you finish reading this story, you'll be about 1,000 km closer to the planet Mars. Earth and Mars are converging for a close encounter. As March gives way to April, the distance between the two planets is shrinking by about 300 km every minute. When the convergence ends in mid-April, the gulf between Earth and Mars will have narrowed to only 92 million km--a small number on the vast scale of the solar system. Astronomers call this event an "opposition of Mars" because Mars and the Sun are on opposite sides of the sky. Mars rises in the east at sunset, and soars almost overhead at midnight, shining burnt-orange almost 10 times brighter than a 1st magnitude star.

There are two dates of special significance:
April 8th is the date of opposition, when Mars, Earth, and the sun are arranged in a nearly-straight line. If the orbits of Mars and Earth were perfectly circular, April 8th would also be the date of closest approach. However, planetary orbits are elliptical--that is, slightly egg-shaped--so the actual date of closest approach doesn't come until almost a week later.

On April 14th, Earth and Mars are at their minimum distance: 92 million km, a 6+ month flight for NASA's speediest rockets. You won't have any trouble finding Mars on this night. The full Moon will be gliding by the Red Planet in the constellation Virgo, providing a can't-miss "landmark" in the midnight sky. Remarkably, on the same night that Mars is closest to Earth, there will be a total lunar eclipse. The full Moon of April 14-15 will turn as red as the Red Planet itself. A video from Science@NASA has the details.

full article

reply to post by Jennyfrenzy


Nice! You can already see Mars in the morning sky, but I can't wait to see it at the opposition!

S&F from me, mate!

reply to post by Jennyfrenzy



Thanks! It's already pretty darned bright.

I've been noticing it every clear night here in the hours after sunset in the eastern sky. Damn, it's bright!! And RED!

Thanks for the extra information, I hope my skies continue to be clear.

reply to post by Jennyfrenzy


From the chart in your OP it looks like Mars will be much closer in 2018 and 2020. Will it look much bigger in those years than in April's "close" approach, or only a little?

The weather on mars is sunny with patchy white clouds. spaceweather.com...
"shows the rapidly evaporating North Polar Cap (summer arrived in February), orographic clouds over martian volcanoes near the equator, and a bright blue cloud filling Hellas Basin in the south."

Aleister
reply to post by Jennyfrenzy

 

From the chart in your OP it looks like Mars will be much closer in 2018 and 2020. Will it look much bigger in those years than in April's "close" approach, or only a little?

edit on 31-3-2014 by Aleister because: (no reason given)

Due to the size of Mars and the distance involved, it will not look bigger to your eyes, just a lot brighter.

You'll need a telescope to be able to see any details.

And did you see it through your telescope Jennyfrenzy ? to much wind over here to setup a telescope

a reply to: Bosb33r

I did!
Mars looked beautiful next to the moon during the lunar eclipse, they were both similar in color.