Apparent size of Mars compared with the lunar crater Copernicus. When Mars is closest to the Earth, its apparent size is about half that presents the crater Copernicus. Similar to what happened in 2003, has been spreading a story that has half truths, but as a whole is a real scam to the reader. On that note, which has spread by email throughout the world and that some media have echoed, is "informed" that the planet Mars can be seen from the size of the full moon. Nothing could be further the truth! This has never happened and will never happen. The planets move in orbits that are stable and when Earth and Mars are closest, the distance between them is about 56 million miles. It is worth remembering that the average distance between Earth and Moon is about 384,400 kilometers, the Moon is almost 146 times closer to Earth, why Mars!
In the farce, was given the date of August (namely 27). It is good to remember that last August 27, 2003, was the date of the last opposition of Mars Perihélica and which by their nature [View Maximo dates only approach] was the closest approach the two planets have been in 60,000 years.
The opposition of August 28, 2003
On August 28, 2003 Mars was close to the minimum distance from Earth in the last 15 years. This is what is called a favorable opposition. Due to the high eccentricity that has the red planet's orbit, its distance from Earth varies considerably from one competition to another, resulting in large variations in the apparent size of Mars. In the so-called big competitions, which occur when Mars is closest to the Earth, the distance that separates us from it is reduced to a minimum of 55 million kilometers while unfavorable oppositions, which are those in which Mars has its maximum distance from Earth, the distance between the two planets almost doubled.
Since Mars is a planet of small diameter barely twice the diameter of the Moon (its diameter (3476 km) is less than a third of the land), or about 6.780km in the most favorable oppositions when placed 55 million miles from Earth has an apparent diameter of only 25 seconds of arc. To get an idea of \u200b\u200bwhat this size is, the crater Copernicus on the lunar surface has an average apparent size of 50 arc seconds. So I invite anyone holding a telescope to focus on the moon and locate the crater Copernicus. At its best telescopic observation, Mars only had half the apparent size of the crater.
In the farce, was given the date of August (namely 27). It is good to remember that last August 27, 2003, was the date of the last opposition of Mars Perihélica and which by their nature [View Maximo dates only approach] was the closest approach the two planets have been in 60,000 years.
The opposition of August 28, 2003
On August 28, 2003 Mars was close to the minimum distance from Earth in the last 15 years. This is what is called a favorable opposition. Due to the high eccentricity that has the red planet's orbit, its distance from Earth varies considerably from one competition to another, resulting in large variations in the apparent size of Mars. In the so-called big competitions, which occur when Mars is closest to the Earth, the distance that separates us from it is reduced to a minimum of 55 million kilometers while unfavorable oppositions, which are those in which Mars has its maximum distance from Earth, the distance between the two planets almost doubled.
Since Mars is a planet of small diameter barely twice the diameter of the Moon (its diameter (3476 km) is less than a third of the land), or about 6.780km in the most favorable oppositions when placed 55 million miles from Earth has an apparent diameter of only 25 seconds of arc. To get an idea of \u200b\u200bwhat this size is, the crater Copernicus on the lunar surface has an average apparent size of 50 arc seconds. So I invite anyone holding a telescope to focus on the moon and locate the crater Copernicus. At its best telescopic observation, Mars only had half the apparent size of the crater.
