Mars will not be extremely close to the Earth this year, so ignore all Facebook chains stating such. Mars was the closest it has been in a while back in 2003. However, it does come relatively close every 15-17 years. A good explanation of Mars oppositions and perihelion periods can be found at mars.nasa.gov/allaboutmars/nightsky/nightsky03/ More information and tables of distance can be found at spider.seds.org/spider/Mars/marsopps.html and uapress.arizona.edu/onlinebks/MARS/APPENDS.HTM For a really neat visual representation of where planets are go to theplanetstoday/ You can even see where they were in the past or where they will be in the future. Just click on the arrow in the top right corner, then use the top slider to go forward or backward in time.
Posted on: Tue, 13 Aug 2013 15:12:11 +0000
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