Saturday, August 27, 2005
Mars coming closer to Earth
Mars getting closer to earth, space enthusiasts can now get a glimpse of the red planet.
"Mars, which orbits around the sun in about two years, is visible these days after midnight as a bright reddish object in the eastern sky," Amitabh Pandey from the science popularisation association of communicators and educators (space) told newspersons.
Mars is getting closer and brighter and would be the closest and brightest on November 7, when it would be in "opposition". During opposition Mars, sun and the earth are aligned, he said.
On that day, mars would rise as the sun sets, he said. The current time of mars rising is 11.16 pm And it is visible with the naked eye from midnight till early morning.
"The planet will get brighter and brighter night after night as the distance decreases from the present 76 million miles to 62 million miles, B.G. Siddharth, director B.M.Birla Science Center, Hyderabad, said.
Pointing out that there was nothing unusual in the event, he said it was the result of usual planetary motion.
Referring to the discovery of the tenth planet, Siddharth said his center was making arrangements to watch it once the monsoon is over as this new planet would be visible for the next six months.
The planet, designated as 2003 UB 313, has been discovered by Michael Brown of California. It is located about 15 billion km from the sun and is considered to be nearly 50 per cent larger than the ninth planet Pluto.
Bureau Report
"Mars, which orbits around the sun in about two years, is visible these days after midnight as a bright reddish object in the eastern sky," Amitabh Pandey from the science popularisation association of communicators and educators (space) told newspersons.
Mars is getting closer and brighter and would be the closest and brightest on November 7, when it would be in "opposition". During opposition Mars, sun and the earth are aligned, he said.
On that day, mars would rise as the sun sets, he said. The current time of mars rising is 11.16 pm And it is visible with the naked eye from midnight till early morning.
"The planet will get brighter and brighter night after night as the distance decreases from the present 76 million miles to 62 million miles, B.G. Siddharth, director B.M.Birla Science Center, Hyderabad, said.
Pointing out that there was nothing unusual in the event, he said it was the result of usual planetary motion.
Referring to the discovery of the tenth planet, Siddharth said his center was making arrangements to watch it once the monsoon is over as this new planet would be visible for the next six months.
The planet, designated as 2003 UB 313, has been discovered by Michael Brown of California. It is located about 15 billion km from the sun and is considered to be nearly 50 per cent larger than the ninth planet Pluto.
Bureau Report
posted by Agent Akce, 2:49 PM