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Earth`s date with Mars
Kolkata, Aug 27: If you miss sighting Mars in the southeastern sky past twilight today, chances are that none among your thousands of generations down the line might actually get a similar opportunity.
Kolkata, Aug 27: If you miss sighting Mars in the southeastern sky past twilight today, chances are that none among your thousands of generations down the line might
actually get a similar opportunity.
The red planet, that has come closest to Earth in over 60,000 years, is burning bright for a fortnight now but would be at its scarlet best tonight till dawn.
At a distance of only 55.8 million km away from earth, this rare cosmic view would be captured through thousands of telescopes across the globe by professional and amateur sky gazers hoping to gather crucial data on Earth's enigmatic neighbour.
"This would be an opportunity of a lifetime," says director of the Positional Astronomy Centre (PAC) B K Mandal. "Not only would it give us the thrill associated with a rare celestial phenomenon but would answer very deep questions perturbing mankind for hundreds of years."
Armed with two telescopes -- a six-inch and the other 11-inch, a core team of PAC astrophysicists would make the most of the night. But they are keeping their fingers crossed for a clear sky. "The martian surface is a sky gazer's delight. We are praying that the sky remains cloud free," Mandal says.
During the great 'opposition' of Mars, as the phenomenon is called in astrophysical terms, one should look for a brilliant beacon shining with a steady ochre glow in the southeastern sky, two hours after local sunset.
A sight to behold, Mars would not twinkle and would outshine any other celestial object tonight, says senior scientist of the M P Birla Planetarium Dr Debiprosad Duari.
The exact epoch of the event would occur at 3:18 pm (IST) when the planet's apparent diameter would be 25.11 arc secondsbut since it would be daytime, the best view can be obtained only after 7.30 pm.
Any good telescope with more than 70 mm aperture would reveal surface features on mars, but the visibility of interesting landmarks like polar caps and albedo features (dark and light patches) would depend on the clarity of the martian surface, says Piyush Pandey, director of Mumbai-based Nehru Planetarium. "Though it is springtime in mars, dust storms can develop and shroud part or whole of the planet," he says.
Besides the polar caps and mountains of mitchel, named after the ohio astronomer who first spotted them 150 years back, scientists would also look for the 'cryptic region', a dark zone hundreds of km wide.
Infrared cameras aboard the mars global surveyor spacecraft have found that even after the polar 'dry ice' in mars recedes, the cryptic region remains remarkably cold.
"No one is sure what the cryptic region is, but it is probably big enough to see from earth," says Nasa's planetary scientist Dave Smith from the Goddard Space Flight Centre in a communique.
Bureau Report
At a distance of only 55.8 million km away from earth, this rare cosmic view would be captured through thousands of telescopes across the globe by professional and amateur sky gazers hoping to gather crucial data on Earth's enigmatic neighbour.
"This would be an opportunity of a lifetime," says director of the Positional Astronomy Centre (PAC) B K Mandal. "Not only would it give us the thrill associated with a rare celestial phenomenon but would answer very deep questions perturbing mankind for hundreds of years."
Armed with two telescopes -- a six-inch and the other 11-inch, a core team of PAC astrophysicists would make the most of the night. But they are keeping their fingers crossed for a clear sky. "The martian surface is a sky gazer's delight. We are praying that the sky remains cloud free," Mandal says.
During the great 'opposition' of Mars, as the phenomenon is called in astrophysical terms, one should look for a brilliant beacon shining with a steady ochre glow in the southeastern sky, two hours after local sunset.
A sight to behold, Mars would not twinkle and would outshine any other celestial object tonight, says senior scientist of the M P Birla Planetarium Dr Debiprosad Duari.
The exact epoch of the event would occur at 3:18 pm (IST) when the planet's apparent diameter would be 25.11 arc secondsbut since it would be daytime, the best view can be obtained only after 7.30 pm.
Any good telescope with more than 70 mm aperture would reveal surface features on mars, but the visibility of interesting landmarks like polar caps and albedo features (dark and light patches) would depend on the clarity of the martian surface, says Piyush Pandey, director of Mumbai-based Nehru Planetarium. "Though it is springtime in mars, dust storms can develop and shroud part or whole of the planet," he says.
Besides the polar caps and mountains of mitchel, named after the ohio astronomer who first spotted them 150 years back, scientists would also look for the 'cryptic region', a dark zone hundreds of km wide.
Infrared cameras aboard the mars global surveyor spacecraft have found that even after the polar 'dry ice' in mars recedes, the cryptic region remains remarkably cold.
"No one is sure what the cryptic region is, but it is probably big enough to see from earth," says Nasa's planetary scientist Dave Smith from the Goddard Space Flight Centre in a communique.
Bureau Report