22nd August 2003 | THE MARS CLOSE APPROACH |
Brian Grainger |
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
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. The full report from which this information came, along with links to viewing Mars, can be found at: |
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