is this true ?????

Question

i heard that ill be able to see mars on oct. 3 on a wensday,is this true or was it last wensday and if it is wat time do i see it and do i need a telescope

hey can binoculars help see details

Answer 1

Yikes! First we had the 2003 Mars approach email, and now we seem to have a revival of the 2005 correction email! Both are WRONG, because we are now in 2007!

Mars, as others have pointed out, is almost always visible somewhere in the sky, except when it's behind the Sun. It made a very close approach to Earth in August 2003, and a not quite so close approach in October 2005. Close approaches are approximately 26 months apart, so the NEXT close approach will be on December 19, 2007.

So, (a) Mars is currently well placed in the morning sky, rising around 11 p.m. EVERY night and high overhead at dawn. And (b) Mars will be at its closest approach to Earth for this apparition on December 19. At that time it will be 16 arcseconds in diameter, roughly 1/200 of the diameter of the Moon. It is now, and will be then, easily visible to the naked eye as a bright orange dot of light. In a powerful telescope, it will appear as a tiny disk, roughly half the size it was in 2003.

Only the internet would be trumpeting this to a wide audience. This apparition of Mars is of interest to astronomers, but offers nothing especially interesting or exciting to the average person.

Answer 2

Mars is visible in the sky for more than half the year - the only time its not visible when its orbit makes it appear to be close to or behind the sun (from our perspective).
Mars is one of the planets known and observed by the ancient Greeks and Romans, so its visible to the naked eye to us (if we bother to look up at night).
You don't need a telescope or even binoculars to see Mars.

Right now, Mars rises in the east before local midnight - its a bright reddish star that doesn't twinkle. Each night it rises a little earlier in the night.
By December it will be its brightest (it will be at opposition) and will be visible a few hours after sunset for most of the night (just like Jupiter is right now and has been for a few months).

So you can go out any night this fall and see Mars.

Answer 3

Just like Venus, Mars is visible nearly every single night, for at least some portion of the night.

Yes you can see it next Wednesday, and also the Wednesday after that, and in fact on any day you want. No, you don't need a telescope.

Depending on the position of the planets, Mars can be as close as 50 million miles or as far as 150 million. When it's closer, it appears to be 9 times brighter. That's what is happening in the next few months.

December 18th 2007, Mars will be less than 55 million miles away (which is still 200 times farther away than the moon).

It still won't be as bright as Venus, and of course it could never even be close to being as bright as a full moon.

Answer 4

Mars rises about 11 pm and you need to telescope to see a disk with at least 80-100 power.

Answer 5

You can see it now. It looks like an extra star in Gemini. It will be visible for the next few months. But you will need a telescope to see any details.

Answer 6

I don't wish to be critical ( OK, I'm lying. I really do want to be critical) but the day of the week you are trying to say is
WEDNESDAY.

OK it sounds the way you are spelling it, but there is good historical reasons for it being spelled differently than its pronounced. Sort of..

The name comes from the Middle English Wednes dei, which is from Old English Wēdnes dæg, meaning the day of the Germanic god Woden (Wodan) who was a god of the Anglo-Saxons in England until about the 7th century.

Please spell it correctly and we won't be making fun of you.
And yes, the others are correct. You don't need a telescope to see Mars.

Answer 7

You never need a telescope to see Mars, although it will only look like a bright red disk with no features to the naked eye.

Here's a good link that shows you where and when to look for Mars:

http://www.marsbase.net/m/planet-finder.php

Happy hunting.

Answer 8

you can see mars all the time, its just going to come semi-close that day. itll come its closest in 2014 i think. it will prolly be like venus, you can see venus really well (really really well, you cant miss it) in the east sky at dawn.