Muscovites will be able to watch the full phase of the planet Mars 31 May – TASS

MOSCOW, May 20. / TASS /. One of the best periods of observations of the red planet – Mars – Over the past two years will come on May 31 when the Muscovites will be able to see “polnomarsie”. This was reported in the press service of the Moscow Planetarium.

“At 14:00 MSK Mars May 22, while 76 million kilometers, will enter into a confrontation with the sun. The earth will be exactly between the Sun and Mars and come” polnomarsie . “- one of the best periods of observations of the red planet for the past two years have witnessed Mars on May 22 in Moscow will not work because of bad cloudy weather But closer to the closest approach on 31 May and the first week of June, when the weather is clear planetarium invite visitors to astronomy. surveillance “, – the report says

.” Polnomarsie “occurs approximately every two years, an average of 780 days. The confrontation between the surface of Mars, it’s best to study with a telescope – the planet is close to the Earth, and has a maximum shine. At the time of “polnomarsiya” is very well lit and the entire planet’s disk can be seen craters, volcanoes detail, polar caps and cirrus clouds in the thin atmosphere of the “red planet”. This confrontation will be the last before the “great” opposition of Mars in 2018.

If confrontation occurs during our winter, -. From January to March, – the distance to Mars is quite large, about 100 million kilometers. But, if the Earth is moving closer to Mars in late summer, when he passes the perihelion of its orbit, the distance between the planets is reduced to only 56-60 million km. Such favorable opposition called great, they occur every 15 or 17 years.

The most famous opposition of Mars is considered the incident Sept. 5, 1877. That’s when the American astronomer Asaph Hall (1829-1907) discovered two moons of Mars – Phobos and Deimos. And then the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli (1835-1910) discovered the famous Martian “canals”.

The last great confrontation took place in August 28, 2003. Mars was closest to the Earth – 55,790,000 km. The next great confrontation will happen July 27, 2018, Mars will approach Earth at 57,770,000 km. Find Mars can be above the southern horizon at night in the form of a bright orange-red light.