With Earth making nearly two full orbits in the time it takes Mars to make just one, the occurrence of Martian oppositions is about every 26 months.
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Look to the southeast just after twilight.
On the 21 of May, Mars will be in direct opposition to the Sun while having a full Moon next to it.
Mars, Earth and the sun will line up perfectly in the sky.
Geologic features, clouds are clearly visible in latest images. Since Mars will be exceptionally closer to Earth, it will appear bigger and brighter than usual. Mars came within 34.65 million miles of Earth in 2003.
Two large meteorites hit the Red Planet millions of years apart, triggering a pair of mega-tsunamis that forever scarred the Martian landscape and yielded evidence of cold, salty oceans conducive to sustaining life, reveal scientists.
The planet will be visible for much of the night if the skies are clear and should be able to be seen without a telescope or binoculars. The 2016 opposition event will be the closest the planets have been in more than a decade, EarthSky reports. The Martian portrait was taken on May 12 when the Red Planet was just 50 million miles from Earth, according to NASA.
NASA says Mars will be the closest it has been to earthlings in 11 years on Monday (May 30), also known as the Mars Close Approach.
That’s Mars, our planetary neighbor – getting up close and personal.
The position of Mars in relation to Antares, the Moon and the Sun.
Viewing Mars through a telescope will offer the most detailed views and will be especially bright facing the Earth, because it is lit by the sun.
The Hubble Space Telescope and is ready to take pictures.
Running along the equator, Sinus Meridiani and Sinus Sabaeus are dark ribbons composed from fine-grained sand together with dark bedrock. Although both Earth and Mars orbit the sun, Earth is closer so it orbits more quickly, making two trips in the time it takes Mars to circle the sun once. “Syrtis Major is an ancient, inactive shield volcano”, NASA said in a statement.
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For those of you who love to look up at the heavens, you may have noticed a very bright reddish object in the eastern sky during the evening.
