Image copyright NASA PA
On Monday May 30, 2016 has been marked on the agenda of US Space Agency (NASA) and astronomy lovers long: the day when Mars is closer to Earth
It will be the shortest distance measured between the two planets in the last 11 years. 75 million kilometers .
“Mars reaches its highest point around midnight, about 35 degrees above the southern horizon,” says NASA on its website.
“Mars will be visible for much of the night,” says the American Space Agency.
as of the red planet approaches the Earth in its orbit, says NASA , will be larger and brighter . Therefore, it will be between May 18 and June 3, 2016 Mars brighter
And the invitation is clear. “Just go outside and look up, please contact your local planetarium or looking for a star party near you “.
” a glance “
for the May 30, NASA ensures that Mars can be seen “at first glance”.
“ Just look to the southeast at sunset, south at midnight and southwest before dawn “.
But we can not make many illusions of what you will see if the approach is fascinating.
“No need for special equipment or a powerful telescope, a normal person and current can only see the red dot is Mars a little brighter than usua l” he told BBC World Maria Teresa Ruiz, astronomer and president of the Academy of Sciences of Chile.
“Only telescopes with special optics may see more detailed surface of Mars,” added the professor.
How did the moon?
the news of the approach of Mars has also sparked comparisons with the moon.
the size of Mars in the sky is about 100 times smaller than the Moon
William Blanc, Universidad de Chile
“(…) Do not be fooled by any of the messages circulating on the internet to ensure that (Mars) appear larger than the full Moon . The Moon is only 384,000 kilometers away; Mars will never be so close, “he says the British newspaper The Guardian Stuart Clark, author of” The Unknown Universe “” (The Unknown World) “.
the assistant professor of astronomy at the University of Chile, Guillermo Blanc, explained to BBC News that “from Earth, Mars will be approximately five times larger and about thirty times brighter that when these two planets are in the farthest point of its orbit “.
” yet the size of Mars in the sky is about 100 times smaller than the Moon and its brightness is about 15,000 times smaller than the Moon “.
so he said the expert, will be seen by the naked eye as a relatively bright star and red.
Even with a small telescope you can appreciate the reddish light, the Chilean astronomer makes the same invitation that NASA: just go out to find the planet, “which has a very distinctive reddish”
So remember: Monday looks to the sky for the red flash
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