Today Earth and Mars will be closer than they have been in nearly 73,000 years, at 55.76 million kilometers, giving casual astronomers the best chance in a lifetime to view the red planet, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said yesterday.
To capitalize on this rare opportunity, the museum will host a series of activities over the next few days. The museum will play the film Knowing Mars twice a day, at 9am and 10am, and make a large telescope open to the public to observe Mars today and tomorrow from 7pm to 9pm.
Mars and Earth will not be this close for another 284 years, according to Cheng Hsiu-neng (鄭秀能), chief of the Central Weather Bureau's astronomical observatory.
"If you miss this opportunity, you will have to wait until the year 2287," Cheng said.
The unusual proximity of the two planets this week called "Mars opposition," in which the Sun, Earth and Mars line up in a row.
"Because the Earth and Mars are in somewhat elliptical orbits, every 15 to 17 years the closest approach occurs, which is the Sun at one end of a line and Mars at the other and the Earth in between," Cheng said. "Mars opposition" occurs every 780 days, Cheng said.
Describing this celestial occurrence as a "once in a lifetime" experience, Cheng offered some ways to observe Mars.
Mars will be observable with the naked eye in the eastern horizon after 7pm, Cheng said. Those using binoculars or telescopes can get a better view from the mountains or near the sea.
"You can observe the polar cap, dark areas and surface features on Mars," Cheng said. "If you spend more than two hours, you can even observe how the landscape moves."
The Taipei Amateur Astronomers Association (
The chief of the association, Chen Cheng-peng (
Another observation by the Taiwan Astronomy Club will take place in Ta-an Forest Park (
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