What’s all the hoopla with

Mars?

Elizabeth Warner
UM Observatory
www.astro.umd.edu/openhouse
 Mars in the News

• Mars to Get Closer than Ever in recorded

History in 2003 (www.space.com)

• Mars making closest approach to Earth in

60,000 years (http://www.cnn.com/)
Is this my one chance to see Mars??

No! Nein! Nyet!

You can see Mars nearly throughout any

given year, you just may have to look at an
odd hour! And Mars will be prominent in the
evening roughly every two years.
 So why the hoopla?

Three things happen the week of 25 Aug 2003

• Mars is at perihelion
• Mars is at opposition
• Mars-Earth distance very small

So why is all that important?

• Mars appears bigger, brighter and is visible all
night.
• “full-moon effect”
 Definitions
• Elliptical
• Perihelion
• Aphelion
• Opposition

What is perigee and apogee?

Is a circle an ellipse? Hint: Geology, Geography
Yes, it is the ‘perfect’ ellipse with
Bonus: What is periastron?
eccentricity = 0 Hint: Astronomy
 So why the hoopla?

Three things happen the

week of 25 Aug
• Mars is at perihelion
• Mars-Earth distance
very small
• Mars is at opposition
 Facts
Orbital parameters Mars Earth

686.980 365.256
Sidereal orbit period (days)
(~22 months)
Perihelion (106 km) 206.62 147.09

Aphelion (106 km) 249.23 152.10

779.94
Synodic period (days)
(~26 months)
Mean orbital velocity (km/s) 24.13 29.78

Orbit eccentricity 0.0935 0.0167

Length of day (hrs) 24.6597 24.0000

 Start 03/21/2001

More realistic Opposition 06/13/2001

Opposition 08/28/2003
The animation starts on 03/21/2001, shortly before
the opposition in 2001, and shows the Earth catching Opposition 11/07/2005
up to and then passing Mars. The animation
continues through the opposition in 2003 and ends
on the opposition in 2005. Although Mars only takes
about 22 months to go around the sun once, by the
time we catch up to it, it is 4 months further along in
its orbit from the previous opposition, hence the shift
in the position of opposition and why not every
opposition is a close one… just the ones occurring
near Mars’ perihelion point.
Animation made using Starry Night Pro 4

Date Angular Distance from

size Earth (AU)
2001 Jun 13 20.5” 0.456
2003 Aug 28 25.1” 0.373 The Planet Mars: A History of Observation and Discovery
2005 Nov 7 19.8” 0.470 William Sheehan
Future Oppositions
Other Close Approaches
Rank / Date Miles Kilometers
57,617 B.C. Sep. 12 34,622,000 55,718,000
#10 1403 July 31 34,729,759 55,892,131
# 9 1640 Aug. 20 34,716,350 55,870,551
# 8 1198 Aug. 3 34,714,912 55,868,236
# 7 1119 July 31 34,709,476 55,859,488
# 6 1766 Aug. 13 34,696,713 55,838,948
# 5 1561 Aug. 7 34,695,987 55,837,780
# 4 1482 Aug. 3 34,677,852 55,808,594
# 3 1845 Aug. 18 34,674,477 55,803,163
# 2 1924 Aug. 22 34,658,182 55,776,939
# 1 2003 Aug. 27 34,646,418 55,758,006
2287 Aug. 29 34,603,170 55,688,405

So we don’t have to wait another 60,000 years!

 Why??

• Orbits are not static… they are being

affected by the other planets… Mars’ is
becoming more eccentric…
 So Mars is technically closer…
• Something far away looks smaller than same
object that is closer.
• Well, if Mars is closer, then it looks bigger
(and brighter).
• If it is bigger, you don’t need as much
‘magnification’ or you can use more and see
more detail.
 Why this week?

• Actually, many amateurs have already been

observing Mars for several months!
• It is now becoming visible earlier and earlier in
the evenings (rather than having to get up at 2am!)
• Closest approach 09:52 UT 27 Aug 2003
• Opposition 18:00 UT 28 Aug 2003
• Mars at perihelion ~10:45 UT 30 Aug 2003
• It’s all down hill from here!
 Visibility zones
evening

Not visible, too

midnight
close to the sun!

morning
Inner planet (Mercury or Venus)

Earth’s orbit

Outer planet (Mars, Jupiter, Saturn,

Uranus, Neptune, or Pluto)
 27 Aug 2002!

This and following slides show position of Earth and Mars over several months… can show how Mars was
behind the sun (not visible), then in the morning sky and how it transitions to the evening sky.
30 Dec 2002
30 March 2003
30 June 2003
27 Aug 2003
30 Sep 2003
30 Oct 2003
30 Nov 2003
30 Dec 2003
 Mars Images

17 July

“gibbous”

21 Aug 2003
Jeff Forsyth
http://www.teamforsyth.com/mars.html
15 August
Compare to above image… “full Mars”
The “eye” is Solis Lacus

Notice
E. Warner - Phase
Mars Previewer II - Angular size
- Polar cap size
 Good Websites

• http://www.theman.themoon.co.uk/Beginners/mars_at_opposition.htm
• http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/online.bks/mars/appends.htm
• http://www.seds.org/~spider/mars/mars.html
• http://www.space.com/spacewatch/mars_10_closest_030822.html
• http://www.kidscosmos.org/kid-stuff/mars-oppositions.html
• http://www.celestron.com/mars/
• http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/news/marsattacks.html
• http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/planets/article_970_1.asp
• http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/planets/article_997_1.asp
• http://www.floridastars.org/marsopp.2003.html