MARCH CLOSEST TO EARTH

THIS TUESDAY OCTOBER 13, 2020

The time is ideal this Tuesday, October 13, 2020 to observe Mars in the sky, if the climatic conditions allow it. The planet is in a perfect position, closest to us until 2035.

“In opposition” is the current alignment of the red planet with respect to Earth. Mars will be directly opposite the Sun on the celestial vault.

The Earth will therefore be located between Mars and the Sun, offering a configuration that will show Mars larger in telescopes.

This "opposition" between Mars and the Sun gives the fourth planet a particularly bright appearance, brighter than Jupiter itself.

It will be observable without a telescope, provided you have good eyes ! Especially since last Tuesday, October 6, 2020, the planet Mars was already closest to Earth, at a distance of 68 million kilometers.

These conditions combined should offer us an impregnable spectacle this Tuesday.

Concretely, Mars aligns itself with the Earth on the same side of the Sun, approaching, before diverging again in their separate orbits around our star. But perfect alignment does not appear as often.

Mars and Earth do not have perfect circle shaped orbits and are not even on the same planes. For these reasons, these elliptical planets generally shy away from each other.

Earth only takes 365 days to complete an orbit around the sun while Mars takes 687 days. When the Earth gets closer to the sun, Mars moves away from it.

These elements explain why this phenomenon of opposition does not occur every earth year..