This month, Mars observers within the Northern Hemisphere will get a spectacle not seen in over a decade: The Crimson Planet will probably be close to its highest level within the sky whereas near Earth at opposition — the time when Mars is at its brightest and greatest for the 12 months.
Opposition happens at 12:36 a.m. EST Dec. 8, simply seven days after the Crimson Planet makes its closest strategy to Earth, inside 50.6 million miles (81.4 million kilometers) of our planet. Not since January 2007 has the planet been so excessive within the northern sky whereas so near Earth — and it’ll not occur once more till November 2037.
Through the weeklong interval between shut strategy and opposition, Mars will seem 17″ in diameter (17.2″ at most) and shine at magnitude –1.9 — simply 0.6 magnitude dimmer than Jupiter, which is able to reign overhead with a frosty rose-colored gentle after sundown.
Bare-eye observers will be capable to monitor the Crimson Planet because it strikes between the horns of Taurus the Bull, changing into the first beacon in an acute triangle with the reddish stars Betelgeuse and Aldebaran. What’s extra, the Full Moon will occult Mars the evening of Dec. 7/8, including one other dimension to this unfolding drama. It’s every week of Mars observing to not be missed.
Prepared for its close-up
At opposition, Mars will lie immediately reverse the Solar, rising within the east because the Solar units within the west and reaching its highest level within the evening sky round midnight. As with the Full Moon (which happens when the Moon is at opposition), a telescopic view will present a totally illuminated Mars. And whereas the martian disk will probably be 5.4″ smaller than throughout its 2020 opposition, observers at mid-northern latitudes will see the planet some 70° excessive — 20° greater than in 2020.
If you happen to miss the date of shut strategy or opposition, that’s OK: The planet will stay 17″ in obvious diameter for a full month, from mid-November to mid-December. Assuming Mars shouldn’t be coated by a worldwide dust storm, you’ll have ample time to survey your entire planet at basically its largest for the 12 months.
What face Mars presents will rely on the time of your remark. Mars completes a full rotation in 24.6 hours, so in case you observe the planet on the identical time each evening, you will notice its darkish options again up by about 10° each day, creating an illusory retrograde rotation interval of round 36 days. On any given evening, in case you watch Mars for 2 hours, it is possible for you to to look at an extra 30° of longitude.
The area of Mars going through Earth will probably be roughly the identical at its closest strategy (Nov. 30 at 9:11 p.m. EST; longitude 250°) and at opposition (Dec. 8 at 12:35 a.m. EST; 249°). The darkish floor options Mare Cimmerium and Mare Tyrrhenum will share the south-central a part of the disk. In the meantime, Syrtis Main will probably be nearer to the limb on the next aspect (that which has an area time earlier within the day, “following” the previous aspect because the planet rotates) of the martian central meridian (the imaginary line that runs from pole to pole and bisects the disk). Observe that come opposition, the south polar cap ought to have drastically receded, with maybe only a pip of frosty gentle seen. Nonetheless, the North Polar Hood — a large icy cloud that kinds over the martian north pole throughout northern winter — could also be outstanding.
