Mars!

The Cauldron of Heaven
Mars In Perihelion

Dena DeCastro If you look up into the sky at night you may see a bright yellowish orange light in the sky that doesn�t twinkle. Mars will be closer to the Earth than it has been in 60,000 years On August 27th, 2003. At the same time, Mars will conjoin Uranus and oppose the Sun in perihelion.


clydelewis.com...

And???????


Is this supposed to DO anything, or is it just a cool bit of info?

If you could explain to me, why this is related to science, I'll leave it...

If you can't.... Say sayonara to this topic...

Hey!

I didn't know Mars would be at its closest to earth in 60,000 years on 27th August.

That's important to Martians here.

I'm also a bit worried about how it will conjoin Myanus.

I think the simple fact that the two planets' orbital patterns are going to align them closer than anyone in recorded history has ever seen is reason enough to keep the topic. Anyone with a telescope will be in for a real treat when this happens. With a good sized telescope you can make out the different colors that define the polar caps. I know the entire astronomy club by me has already planned a huge outing at a forest preserve because of this. There will be everything from 2" Kmart refractors up to my Brother's 14" meade. If viewing the planets and discussion of this doesnt constitute science, then I am really confused and need to go back to the start of my astrophysics classes at Northwestern.

Northwestern, huh? Applied to law school there and got rejected. I did take some astro-physics courses at my undergrad. I am wondering what the gravitational effects on the oceans will be.

There is a slight chance (and I do mean slight) that the alignment may cause a slight (and I do mean slight) increase in seismic activity due to the purported "gravitational vectoring" effect.

Bandit.... it's kinda' obvious that this is a science topic. Mars is a planet, which falls under astronomy, which is a science. He posted a bit of news on that planet... so that makes it science related.

What??? I thougt it was 50 K. Which one is true? There could be some increase in tide activity, can it be?? I am not sure. Can anyone clarify on that one? Cool pictures for sure

Dragonrider is correct, the effects on earth's tides will be so minimal they will go undetected. Mars doesnt have enough mass to create a strong gravitational pull, this combined with the distance we are apart will equate to nothing but great viewing (provided there arent any clouds in the sky).

Freddie-
I have heard their law school is very tough to get into, not that my program was easy.
Where did you decide to go?

Mars will conjoin Uranus

Ouch! Gives a "hole" new meaning to the Great Red Spot!

This is it! Yes Mars will be the closest it has been in 60,000 years, because it's going to slam right into Canada!

Actually, this should be good viewing....I've been noticing it pretty bright compared to later years