Mars is getting closer!

Press release from National Astronomy Week -- 23-30 August

This month, the planet Mars gets closer to Earth than at any time for the past 60,000 years. Astronomers around the country will be gazing at the Red Planet, and they will be sharing their telescopes with thousands of members of the public.

The astronomical community have designated the week Saturday 23 August to Saturday 30 August National Astronomy Week. During the week, astronomical societies will be opening up their observatories or hauling their telescopes into open spaces to let as many people as possible look at Mars.

Why is Mars so close?

Mars is the next planet out from the Sun, and takes nearly twice as long to go round its orbit. So the two planets approach each other roughly every two years. But their orbits are not circular, and this year Mars is particularly close to the Sun while Earth is farther away from the Sun.

Small changes in the orbits from year to year mean that the close approaches are starting to get closer. But it will be another 284 years before Mars gets nearer still -- and then it will be only about 65,000 miles closer.

The actual distance at closest approach on 27 August will be 55,758,006 km, or 34,646,418 miles -- centre to centre. The exact moment of close approach will be 9.51 am, when Mars is not above the horizon from Britain. But the night before or the night after, when we see Mars from the UK, it will still be within about 2000 miles of its closest.

Where can we see Mars?

Mars is very easy to spot -- it's the bright object low in the south east after about 11 pm at the moment. Over the next three weeks, it will get higher in the sky until by National Astronomy Week it rises at about 9 pm. Though Mars is called the Red Planet, its true colour is pale orange. The colour is very obvious, and it is far brighter than any other star or planet around at the moment. It moves slowly through the sky, reaching its highest at about 1 am during NAW.

What will we see?

Mars is a fairly small planet -- about half the size of Earth -- so it never gets very big, even at its closest. But through a telescope, you can see that it is a real world. Even a fairly small telescope should show one or two dark markings and its south polar cap which is tilted towards the Earth at the moment.

Because Mars turns on its axis in almost the same time as Earth, after just a quarter of an hour or so it's possible to see that the planet has turned slightly.

With Mars so close, will there be any noticeable effects?

No, apart from frenzied activity among astronomers followed by lack of sleep! Bear in mind that Venus regularly comes much closer to Earth with no ill effects, and Mars is a much smaller planet.

Where can we go to view Mars?

Check the National Astronomy Week website, www.astronomyweek.org.uk, for details of events around the country where the public can go and see Mars and other celestial delights through telescopes.

Is there life on Mars?

The jury is still out on this one. A flotilla of space probes are on their way at this moment and will arrive at the end of the year. It is unlikely that any of them will be able to establish once and for all that there is life there. If there is, it will be hard to find-microscopic organisms deep below the surface rather than little green men.

What about the canals?

The canals were an optical illusion. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, people imagined that they could see fine dark lines crossing the surface. Once one person saw them, a lot of people thought they could see them too, but many others failed to spot anything of the sort, even with large telescopes and gradually it was accepted that they were just imaginary. Space probes and the Hubble Space Telescope do not show them.

Where can we get pictures of Mars?

The pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope are freely available for download from their website, where you can browse through its planetary images. NASA makes these freely available to the public and media.It is likely that a new photo of Mars will be released within the next few weeks.

About National Astronomy Week

The UK astronomical community holds a National Astronomy Week every few years when there is an interesting astronomical event. It is sponsored by the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, which is the government body responsible for astronomy funding in the UK, and by the major astronomical organisations.

About 100 events are being held around the UK and Northern Ireland during National Astronomy Week. Details are on the NAW website.

Posters describing the close approach and the Week are available from the NAW Coordinator at the Herstmonceux Science Centre in Sussex. Telephone 01323 831972 during office hours (line open to the public)

For more information on this press release only, contact Robin Scagell, NAW Publicity Officer, on 01628 521338.

More Mars feature information will be released in the run-up to NAW.