[Az-Geocaching] Mars Approaching (Warning: Off-Topic)

[listserv@azgeocaching.com]

Hey there Jim Scotti!

Any info you can give us about this up coming astronomical event? It
sounds pretty cool!! (With our luck, we will end the 5-year drought
with a huge monsoon season and have cloud cover for the next two
months!!)

(SPOILER: for those of you who are preterbed by off-topic posts, I
posted this to the list on purpose because I... 1) wanted to ask Jim
and 2) thought there might be a number of others on this list who
would be interested in astronomy. So, if you are not interested, just
delete this and any other upcoming posts with "Mars" in the title.
Simple. Thanks)

Trisha "Lightning"
Prescott

INFO:

Never again in our lifetime will the Red Planet look so
spectacular!

This month and next Earth is catching up with 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, astronomers 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 attain a magnitude of -2.9
and will appear 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 p.m. and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m. 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 a.m.
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 and brighter throughout the month.
Share this!

No one alive today will ever see this again.


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"Although no one can go back and
make a brand new start,
Anyone can start from now and
make a brand new ending."
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