Every 780 days, the Earth aligns itself so that it comes between the Sun and Mars. This is called an opposition.
Unfortunately for the January 29, 2010 opposition, Mars will be almost 100 million km from Earth and will appear rather small. However since Mars will be riding high in our sky, we will be able to see it.
To the naked eye, Mars usually appears a distinct yellow, orange, or reddish color. However, the actual color of Mars is closer to butterscotch, and the redness seen is actually just dust in the planet's atmosphere.
Those with good quality telescopes will be able to view some Martian details even when with the Martian disk appearing less than 14 arc seconds. Mars has a monster canyon; a cloud piercing volcanic mountain, the largest shield volcano in the solar system; polar ice caps of water and carbon dioxide; and dry rusty deserts caressed by ground hugging dust devils and periodically shaded by dust storms. Mars has the largest dust storms in our Solar System
The red planet lost its magnetosphere 4 billion years ago, so the solar wind interacts directly with the Martian ionosphere, keeping the atmosphere thinner than it would otherwise be.
The length of the Martian seasons are about twice those of Earth's. Martian surface temperatures vary from −140 °C to +20 °C, and it gets about 43 percent of the amount of sunlight that the Earth gets.
On August 27, 2003, Mars made its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years. It’s disk appeared to be 25 arc seconds. The next time will be so close will be in 2287, however, there will be a good viewing opposition on July 27, 2018.
On January 29, between 7:30 and 8:30 PM look for Mars just to the left and higher than the moon. It will be in the constellation of Cancer. Say hello!
Katharine Auslander is a freelance journalist and a resident of Meaford who is very interested in astronomy and environmental issues. She has a Masters degree in Environmental Studies from York University.
