That’s quite close in the cosmic scheme of things; Mars is almost at “opposition” – when the planet and the sun are on exact opposite sides of Earth from each other – which will come on May 22.
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Not all oppositions can bring the Earth close to the Red Planet, though. Shortly after the sun sets, go outside and look towards the southeastern part of the sky. Its heavily eroded and densely cratered landscape suggests that it could be one of the oldest features on the planet.
The actual closest approach of the planets will occur one week later, on May 30, when the distance between them will be only 46.8 million miles (75.3 million km). We now know that the feature, which was previously believed to be a plain, is in reality a vast, low-relief shield volcano.
As such, pretty much all to-and-fro traffic with any potential Mars colony will be stuck to a 21-month cycle of nine months to get there, three months there and nine months back.
When a second meteorite caused another a tsunami millions of years later, Mars’ climate had changed considerably, researchers surmised. The red planet will also be at its closest point to Earth in over a decade on May 30. “The oval feature south of Syrtis Major is the bright Hellas Planitia basin, the largest crater on Mars”.
“And that means it’s the best time to look at Mars from Earth”. As a result, Earth makes nearly two full orbits in the time it takes Mars to make just one, resulting in the occurrence of Martian oppositions about every 26 months.
Mars opposition happens approximately every other year, although some years the planets are closer than others.
Oddly enough, although Mars is directly opposite Earth on Sunday morning, it is not at its closest.
“Because Mars is directly opposite the sun (in relation to Earth) during opposition, Mars rises as the sun sets, and sets as the sun rises”.
Running along the equator, Sinus Meridiani and Sinus Sabaeus are dark ribbons composed from fine-grained sand together with dark bedrock.
The Hubble Space Telescope and is ready to take pictures.
An extended blanket of clouds can be seen over the southern polar cap. It’s a result of the difference in orbital periods between Earth’s orbit and Mars’ orbit.
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To observe Mars opposition, people can simply place themselves under an open sky and look toward the southeastern direction where the full moon is located.
