![]() [13 April 2018 to 5 December 2018] ![]() No other currently-known celestial event of calendar year 2018 will hold more opportunity to bring amateur skygazing into the lives of you and your friends and family than the apparition of Mars♂. An apparition is simply a time span during which an object is available for view in the sky. Every twenty-six months Earth♁ swings by and passes the Red Planet, giving anyone interested a chance to see it as close up as possible. However, the orbits of Earth♁ and Mars♂ are not perfect circles. Therefore some close passes are closer than others, some farther away. This will be the closest pass to Mars♂ in fifteen years. The apparent size of the planet in our sky will exceed one percent the size of the Full Moon! There is every real possibility of glimpsing a polar cap of Mars♂ as well as the large dark area Syrtis Major. Although the 2018-2019 apparition has been in progress for some time and will continue through February, leisure viewing by beginning skygazers should take place between 13 April and 5 December when the magnitude (brightness) of Mars♂ rivals—and ultimately exceeds—that of the brightest stars. In order to take full advantage of this opportunity (which will not return for another seventeen years) one should perform several important tasks…
Key Magnitude and Apparent Size Dates
For additional information such as Mars♂’ motions through the sky, conjunctions with the Moon and other bodies, Baton Rouge rise times, constellation locations, Martian seasons and the latest Martian photography from this incredible apparition, please go to… http://www.brastro.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=2713 ![]() Page created on Friday, April 13, 2018, 11:41 AM. |