Ancient Egyptian Forum

[bel]

The Red Planet is about to be spectacular!

This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars in 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 before it happens again.

The encounter will culminate on August 27th when
Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles of Earth 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 it will rise in the east at 10p.m. and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m.

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 12:30a.m. That's pretty
convenient to see something that no human being 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.

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/mars_orbit_030121-1.html

[Google]

[Hatshepsut76]

Thanks for the news, bel!
I'm an astrophile too (sorry, I don't know if it's the right term to use...), and I'm pretty interested to what concerns astronomy phaenomena

[bel]

It's hard to ignore it's origin's and symbolism during the time's of Ancient Egypt.

[Ramsekh]

Orbital Oddities: Why
Mars will be So Close to
Earth in August

By Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer
posted: 07:00 am ET
21 January 2003
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[bel]

Good point,
yet you must stay til the end of the article.

A handful of even closer oppositions, seven to be exact, will occur between the August 2003 event and the year 3000, according to new calculations by Standish recently provided to SPACE.com. The next one that will be closer than this year's occurs in 2287.

The closest of all comes in 2729, when Mars will be about 34,580,000 miles (55,651,000 kilometers) from Earth.

[Ramsekh]

I don't like how they predict so far into the future.
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[bel]

Orbital calculation's I am sure.

[Psusennes I]

Lol! 2003.
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[bel]

[Psusennes I]

Bel. That article is two years out of date. The red planet is currently moving closer to the earth, but its opposition won't be until the Seventh of November this year. Even at its opposition it will still be less bright than Venus, the Sun, the Moon and Jupiter.

Come back in 2287.
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[bel]

Joke must be on me as I received this in a e-mail and thought it interesting. I did not go outside last night to view. Although this is interesting enough: I guess we are the Lucy in the Sky and not in the other way around.
http://www.space.com/imageoftheday/image_of_day_050823.html

[Hatshepsut76]

Wonderful site! I provided to put it in My favourites astronomy sites!

[bel]

I'm glad it was enjoyed!!!!

On a different note I hope none of you are in Louisiana or have felt the destruction of Katrina. So much for us to do. Need to pull out of the war and take care of our own it seem's!

[bel]

surfing the net today I found this interesting enough to note; ESPECIALLY THE DATE!!!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9851248/

[Ramsekh]

Good find, bel!

Nice to see you pop in
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