Next week, the planet will be in opposition and therefore – also with the naked eye – exceptionally well visible!

Mars is in opposition every 26 months. That means that Mars and the sun are on opposite sides of the Earth. Because of this, the planet rises when the sun sets and sets when the sun rises. The result is that Mars is in the sky all night and – because sunlight falls on the planet from behind us – looks very bright.

Special opposition
A good time to go out to spot the planet. Especially since Mars is in opposition shortly after perihelion this year. Perihelium is the point in the – slightly oval-shaped – orbit of Mars that is closest to the sun. Mars reached this point in August and is relatively close to the Sun at the time of opposition – Wednesday, October 14. This makes it even more visible.

The planet is also clearly visible with the naked eye. If you go out in the early night of Wednesday, October 14, you will find the planet in the constellation of Pisces. Hemel.waarnemen.com to read. For those who see it with the naked eye, the planet is most like a red-colored, bright star.

One opposition is not the other
Both Earth and Mars orbit the sun. However, because the Earth is closer to the sun, it takes less time to complete a circle around the sun; roughly, it takes Mars twice as long to orbit the sun. Because of this, the distance between the two planets varies greatly. Sometimes they are on either side of the sun. And sometimes the Earth catches up to Mars, as it were, and the two pass each other. This happens every 26 months. But not every opposition brings the two planets equally close together. Once every 15 to 17 years, Mars is in opposition around perihelion. And then the planet is a little closer. The last time that happened was in 2003. At that time, however, the distance to Mars was even smaller than this year, because the Earth – which also has a slightly oval-shaped orbit – around the moment when Mars was in opposition, was relatively far away again. the sun was away. The 2003 opposition was quite special; the last time the two planets were so close together was nearly 60,000 years ago!

Telescope
But the opposition of 2020 may also be there. And it is also the ideal time to admire the planet through a telescope. Because while you can see the planet with the naked eye at most as a bright, red star, with an amateur telescope you can quickly recognize surface features, including the white polar caps.

Space agencies also benefit from the relatively close distance between Earth and Mars. The period around opposition is very suitable for launching Mars rovers, landers and orbits, which, because the distance between the Earth and Mars is relatively small, do not have to travel as far and also need to carry less fuel. Earlier this year, three Mars missions were launched. The Chinese launched a Mars lander, rover and orbit. And the United Arab Emirates sent a Mars orbiter into space. Meanwhile, the Americans launched a Mars rover who – for the first time – will actively search for (dead) aliens on the red planet, which – as several previous Mars missions have shown – seems to have once been livable.

DID YOU KNOW…

… Great discoveries have been made on the red planet during previous oppositions? For example, during the opposition of 1659, the Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens succeeded in making accurate drawings of the Martian surface for the first time. He captured Syrtis Major, a striking dark spot on Mars (later research showed that it was a shield volcano). And during the opposition of 1666, Giovanni Domenico Cassini was the first to see the polar caps. The observations also enabled him to calculate the rotational speed of the red planet. And in 1877, while Mars was in opposition, two small moons were discovered around the planet: Deimos and Phobos. By the way, we will visit the latter moon in the coming years (for the first time!). The Japanese space agencies JAXA wants to send a rover there in 2025 – in collaboration with the French and German space agencies. It remains to be seen what exactly the robber will find there. But it is certain that the car should not go too fast. read here why!–
–