The convergence of Mars and Earth will reach its peak on Wednesday * Space.com was forced to do educational work and dispel mascot fears
On August 27, Mars and Earth will approach the closest distance between them in 60 thousand years. There are also those who believe that danger lurks for the earth as a result of the cosmic event.
One reader asked: "Would there be any danger in Mars coming so close to Earth? I'm afraid." Some readers asked if earthquakes or other disasters were expected. One of the many rumors even talked about the two planets colliding. Anyone who understands a little about astronomy knows that nothing bad will happen.
At the closest distance the two planets would be 55.76 million kilometers apart. The effect of gravity is a function of mass and distance, so the gravitational force of any body in space decreases rapidly with distance. An object's gravity becomes little more than background noise like a Cadillac 20 blocks away honking and adding to the cacophony of building construction in midtown Manhattan.
Other readers thought that Mars would appear as large as the Moon. On August 27 Mars will look about as it does now, bright as a shining star. Using a telescope, of course, it can be enlarged as much as your wallet allows.
Why are there rumors?
Expectations of a planetary doomsday crop up again and again because some astrologers and self-professors persist in spreading rubbish about how the positions of the planets affect the earth by creating earthquakes, storms and other catastrophes. The Internet facilitates the publication of these false claims with great speed and circulation.
Only those too foolish to think that the movement of the planets affects their lives is pseudoscience, says Joe Rao, the night sky columnist for Space.com. "There will always be those who will try to convince the masses that such a rapprochement means catastrophes and severe events that will harm our planet. Rao said. "The approach between Mars and the Earth will have no effect on any body in space, including the Earth itself.
Often the contracts predicted catastrophes when several planets aligned together. This is when three or more of Neptune's inner planets gather roughly along a line in space, so that from Earth they can be seen clustered in the night sky. Such groupings happened in 2000 and again in 2002 and the earth will not be harmed. Nothing out of the ordinary has happened during all the gatherings known in written history. All that would happen is that crowds would come out to look at the sky to watch the historic event.
On this date, Mars will be slightly closer than at any other time in history. The proximity is due to the fact that the two planets are on the same side of the Sun plus the fact that the Earth is almost at the farthest point in the ellipse where it orbits the Sun, and Mars is at the closest point it can reach (of course this is due to the fact that the orbits of the two planets are not perfectly circular.) In astronomical language it means that Mars will be in opposition. Mars was already only slightly less than one percent of its current shortest distance - in 1971.
The moon and the sun are the bodies that influence the earth the most, and these effects are real - stabilizing the rotation of the earth, creating tides in the oceans, and even the rocks rise and fall every day.
The moon, although small, is responsible for two-thirds of the tides. It is 384,402 kilometers from Earth on average. The much larger sun, although 150 million kilometers away accounts for the rest. For the record, the sun contains 99.8 percent of the entire mass of the solar system. The total gravitational pull of all the other planets, even if they are all in one line, and all in the greatest possible proximity at one moment, just doesn't make a difference to Earth compared to the Sun and Moon. And yet the rumors continue to spread.
55,758,005 kilometers only
The orbits of Mars and Earth around the Sun are getting closer to each other in an unusual way. On August 27, at 10:51 GMT, the distance between Mars and Earth will be exactly 55,758,005 kilometers.
The last time when the distance between the two planets was smaller than this was almost 60 thousand years ago. Europe was then entirely at the disposal of the Neanderthals, and Homo sapiens was still mostly concentrated in Africa.
Even now Mars is a spectacle that cannot be missed. In recent weeks it has appeared larger and larger and redder, and is now brighter than Jupiter and the star Sirius. Only Venus and the Moon are brighter than it. "It will be easy to see that it is Mars. It will be large and reddish and very bright to the naked eye. It will look even better in binoculars or any kind of small telescope," said Dr. Miles Standish, an astronomer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
Without a magnifying device of some kind it will not be possible to distinguish the details of the Martian landscape. But amateur astronomers, watching with home telescopes, will be able to make out the planet's vast mountains and desert basins. It is now late spring in the southern hemisphere of Mars, which is tilted towards Earth. The extensive covering of the Antarctic ice cap, which is mostly composed of frozen carbon dioxide, shines brightly in sunlight.
One of the concerns of amateur astronomers in the coming weeks is the dust. When Mars reaches the closest point in its orbit around the Sun, as it is now, the rising temperatures can cause wind storms; These storms can cause dust to obscure much of the planet's surface. Viewers are therefore invited to enjoy the clear view now, before the summer period on southern Mars.
The Hubble space telescope will take a portrait of Mars as it approaches Earth. But the rare event has less to do with science and more to do with an opportunity for non-astronomers to observe the planet. "Scientifically, can we learn more about Mars from zooming in?" asked rhetorically Dr. Michael Schara, an astrophysicist at the Hayden Observatory in New York. "Of course not. It is a spectacular sight. Look at it and enjoy. Look at the poles of Mars. But the real science will mainly come from research spacecraft, which are now on their way to the planet."
