It may seem surprising, but the words “May 22, 2016, Mars will be in opposition” means that on this day the planet will be almost at the closest distance from the Earth in the year. This terminology comes from the ancient times, when the center of the world placed the Earth, and the word “opposition” indicates that another planet (in this case – Mars) is relatively opposite the Sun Earth (as shown)
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this year, Mars will pass the point of confrontation on May 22 in 13 hours Moscow time: planets are exactly on the lines of the Sun-Earth. However, it will be visible after sunset, he went up on the south-east. The planet will be visible all night in the constellation Scorpius. The distance to Mars will be about 76 million km, it reaches the apparent diameter of 18.3 arcseconds, and gloss increase to -2,0 m (such brightness caused by the proximity to the Earth, and the fact that for the terrestrial observer phase Mars will be 1.0, that is, the entire disk of the planet is illuminated by the sun). In this situation, on the surface of Mars, you can see the individual parts and the polar cap, even a modest amateur telescope, or 40 times the telescope.
The convergence of the planets provides the best conditions for observation, and this, of course, used by professional astronomers. Since May 12, Mars was photographed by a telescope “Hubble”. The photo is possible to distinguish the polar cap at the south pole craters Huygens, Cassini and Schiaparelli, as well as some parts of the Martian geography – earth Meridian (Sinus Meridiani), Saba (Terra Sabaea) and Arabia (Arabia Terra). We can see that on Mars is now quite cloudy.
Clear now and over the European part of Russia. According to forecasts, the weather can intervene and prevent the observation of Mars in opposition, at least in Moscow. But there is hope that a week later, on May 31, when the case of maximum convergence of the planets (to 75.3 million kilometers), the weather will be better. Moscow Planetarium is planning to organize a night of observations of the Red Planet, stay tuned to the Planetarium website. Maximum convergence little late due to the fact that now the Earth, which moves in its orbit faster still “catching up” Mars. May 31 she would “overtake” and pulls away.
It should be noted that the opposition and convergence this year is not a record. Such events occur once every 26 months. But once in 15-17 years, the Earth and Mars are converging much closer – the distance is less than 60 million km between them. To do this, you need to at the time of the confrontation turned Mars at perihelion. This coincidence is called the great confrontation. Last time it was in 2003, and the next time will be in 2018.
Photo from nasa.gov site.
Alexander Kozlovsky
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