[Vision2020] Attention Hawkshare: Mars Brightness Now (July-Aug, 2018) Due to "Opposition"

[Ted Moffett]

Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett
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I guess Mars at "perigee," its closest approach to Earth, will occur next
on May 11, 2031?
Read here:
https://in-the-sky.org/news.php?id=20310512_12_100
Mars at perigee

Sun, 11 May 2031
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The current brightness of Mars in the southern sky over the Palouse is due
to what is termed "opposition," when Mars' and Earth's orbits align so that
the Earth and Mars are on the same side of the sun, so that a straight line
(or close to that...) can be drawn from Mars to the Earth to the Sun.  I
guess this is called "opposition" because Mars and the Sun are facing
opposite sides of the Earth?

Anyway, NASA should know, even if I don't:

https://mars.nasa.gov/allaboutmars/nightsky/opposition/

Content below from NASA website:

This year, Mars opposition occurs on July 27, 2018.
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Mars Opposition

Like all the planets in our solar system, Earth and Mars orbit the sun. But
Earth is closer to the sun, and therefore races along its orbit more
quickly. Earth makes two trips around the sun in about the same amount of
time that Mars takes to make one trip. So sometimes the two planets are on
opposite sides of the sun, very far apart, and other times, Earth catches
up with its neighbor and passes relatively close to it.

*What is Opposition?*

During opposition, Mars and the sun are on directly opposite sides of
Earth. From our perspective on our spinning world, Mars rises in the east
just as the sun sets in the west. Then, after staying up in the sky the
entire night, Mars sets in the west just as the sun rises in the east.
Since Mars and the sun appear on opposite sides of the sky, we say that
Mars is in "opposition." If Earth and Mars followed perfectly circular
orbits, opposition would be as close as the two planets could get.

Of course, nothing about motion in space is quite that simple! Our orbits
are actually elliptical (oval-shaped), and we travel a little closer to the
sun at one end of our orbits than at the other end.
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