2006-08-27 06:45:18 · 4 answers · asked by cold gold 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
No - right now, Mars is actually behind the Sun; we can't see it at all.
Mars gets close to Earth every two years. So, last year, Mars was very close. Three years ago, it was spectacularly close.
Mars' next close approach to Earth will occur in December 2007, but even then it will still be about 55 million miles away from us, not nearly as close as it was in 2003 or 2005. Not until 2018 will our view of Mars be similar to the one that was available in 2003, and it won't be until the year 2287 that Mars will come closer to Earth than it did back in 2003.
Mars did make an extraordinarily close approach to Earth several years ago, culminating on 27 August 2003, when the red planet came within 35 million miles (or 56 million kilometers) of Earth, its nearest approach to us in almost 60,000 years. At that time, Mars appeared approximately 6 times larger and 85 times brighter in the sky than it ordinarily does.
Although Mars' proximity to Earth in August 2003 was a rare occurrence, the red planet comes almost as near to us every 15 to 17 years. To the unaided observer, Mars' appearance in August 2003 wasn't significantly larger or brighter than it is during those much more common intervals of closeness.
Mars had another close encounter with Earth in in 2005, but that occurrence took place in October (not August), and the red planet appeared about 20% smaller than it did during similar circumstances in 2003.
2006-08-27 06:50:06 · answer #1 · answered by rp_iowa 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
When Mars is in the night sky it is ALWAYS visible to the naked eye.
Please go and get a book on Planets from your library (there are lots of them). Then you will not ask such silly questions.
The report of the Mars apparition tonight was actually someone originally doing a search on Google and finding a leftover report from Aug 27 2003. The thing has ballooned out of control since then. Every year since then people have assumed it was going to happen in their current year.
If people had just an inkling of knowledge about the planets they would have known is was false information immediately.
2006-08-27 16:04:01 · answer #2 · answered by nick s 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
actually,at this this time,Mars is almost at the complete other end of the solar system.It will only be visible as a tiny red dot.
2006-08-27 13:50:35 · answer #3 · answered by That one guy 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I heard da same story but so far every1 sez it complete nonsense so... Hu knows?!!!!
2006-08-27 14:55:20 · answer #4 · answered by Miss212Sexy!! 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋