Mars disappeared from Earth’s sky last Saturday, in a unique astronomical phenomenon that will last for two weeks.
According to Russia Today, this disappearance may seem dramatic, but in reality it does not cause panic because it is the result of a scientific phenomenon known as “conjunction,” which is the period during which the Sun obscures Mars and the Earth from each other.
According to the In the Sky website, both Mars and the Sun will be in the constellation Libra. The red planet will be unobservable for several weeks, as it is covered by the glow of our star.
During solar conjunction, which is an event that Earth and Mars witness every two Earth years, the third and fourth planets from the Sun (Mars and Earth, respectively), will be at the greatest distance between them. The distance between Mars and Earth is usually about 140 million miles (225 million kilometers). During solar conjunction, Earth and Mars will be separated by about 235 million miles, more than two and a half times the average distance between our planet and the sun.
