Mars gives show: Monday night will be at the minimum distance from the Earth which had not happened for 11 years. After Sun and Moon, will be one of the two brightest celestial bodies in the sky, the other is Jupiter. It will be tempting opportunity to admire the Red Planet disk, its reddish color and observe some details of the surface, the latter visible only through a telescope.
Mars reaches the minimum distance of 75.3 million kilometers at 23:34 (Italian time on Monday) and the best visibility time will be around one in the morning. “The planet is just getting dark but must reach the height of 30 degrees above the horizon to become visible,” said astrophysicist Gianluca Masi, head of the Virtual Telescope. In fact, the light on the horizon of the planet, he explained, must cross a greater thickness of the atmosphere, and this affects the visibility.
The planet has already made a fine show on May 22 reaching than the opposition but the Sun, found Masi, “this is the best time to observe it because now the Moon rises very late and the darkest sky allows us to appreciate better the legendary Mars red.”
as viewed from Earth the planet will have a diameter equal to one hundredth of that of the Moon’s disk and to find it you have to look to the south among the stars of the constellation Libra is easily recognizable by its distinctive red color, but to observe the details you need a small telescope of at least 100 mm in diameter that will differentiate the ice cap of the North Pole and the darker regions of the surface.
due to the changeable weather on the peninsula, who had to miss the event this evening because of the clouds do not be discouraged: “Mars – reassured Masi – still remains well visible for a month, then it becomes more elusive, distant and modest but still visible to the naked eye.
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