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22nd August 2003

THE MARS CLOSE APPROACH

Brian Grainger

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brian@grainger1.freeserve.co.uk


 

If the skies are clear and you look into the night sky in a South East direction after 10 o’clock you will see a very bright object climbing the sky as the night goes on. The object is Mars and it is bright because it is very close to Earth, comparatively speaking.

MARS CLOSEST APPROACHES TO EARTH

Date

Miles Apart

Kilometres

July 31, 1119

34,709,476

55,859,488

Aug. 13, 1766

34,696,713

55,838,948

Aug. 7, 1561

34,695,987

55,837,780

Aug. 3, 1482

34,677,852

55,808,594

Aug. 18, 1845

34,674,477

55,803,163

Aug. 22, 1924

34,658,182

55,776,939

Aug. 27, 2003

34,646,418

55,758,006

Note: UT = British Summer Time (BST) less 1 hour

As from 02:54 BST on Wednesday August 27, 2003 Mars will be closer to Earth than it has been since 3000 BC and will continue to get closer until 10:51 BST of that day.

Professor Aldo Vitagliano has calculated that Mars has not been this close to Earth since September 12, 57,617 B.C., or 59,619 years ago. To put this into perspective, this was the time when Neanderthal Man was roaming the Earth.

However, the next closer approach will occur much sooner than in 60,000 years time.
On Aug. 29, 2287, in just 284 years time, Mars will come 43,248 miles (69,601 kilometres) closer than in 2003.

The full report from which this information came, along with links to viewing Mars, can be found at:
http://www.space.com/spacewatch/mars_10_closest_030822.html


 

 

 

 


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