Hours later … Earth is witnessing a rare astronomical event that will not be repeated until 15 years later

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The head of the Astronomical Society in Jeddah, Eng. Majid Abu Zahra, said that Mars will reach the closest distance to our planet today, and will appear at a width of 22.6 arcseconds, at a distance of 62.07 million kilometers, a week before the encounter, and will not approach such a distance again for 15 Next year or until September 2035.

For comparison, Mars in its historical approach in 2003 was at its closest distance about 60,000 years ago and is now slightly farther from Earth than it was at that time, on August 27, 2003 Mars was at a distance of 55.76 million kilometers, and it will replicate better on August 28, 2287 when The red planet will be at a distance of 55.69 million kilometers, according to the Saudi newspaper, Al-Wiam.

It can be seen that the arrival of Mars at the closest distance and the encounter do not occur at the same time, and the reason is that the two planets revolve around the sun in elliptical orbits and are not completely rotated and are not on the exact same plane, where the interval between the encounter of Mars and the lowest distance with the Earth is 8.5 days (General 1969), or less than 10 minutes (2208 and 2232).

Mars takes 687 days to orbit around the Sun and pass its seasonal changes and pass both equinoxes and two solstices, and at Mars’ equinox when the sun appears to cross the celestial equator of Mars, while the solstices represent the moment when the sun is at its farthest north or south in the Mars sky.

Mars is the only planet whose surface details can be seen from the Earth, and Mercury is very small, while other planets are covered with clouds, so it is an ideal event for everyone as Mars will be clearly and distinctively visible throughout the night and easy to identify in the dome of the sky.

Mars can be observed, on Tuesday evening, easily with the naked eye, as it will appear as a point of light burning orange towards the eastern horizon at the beginning of the night, and on the western horizon, the west before dawn, and when using the binoculars, it will appear as a point of light without clear features, as if you are looking at it with the naked eye, so the binoculars Not suitable for observing Mars.

To see the disk of Mars, an observer needs to use a telescope of 8 inches and larger, and it is preferable to use color filters to improve the observation, as there is a wide range of appropriate color filters.

In general, the period from October 6 to October 28 will provide the opportunity to see different features of the surface of Mars as the planet rotates on its axis, and unlike most astronomical events that last for a short period or one night, the period of this event of several weeks will provide many opportunities for frequent observation and improvement of observation skills. .