Mars-56million km closer to earth

[Draco]

On 27 August
Just thought you guys would like to know. The last time it was this close 60 000 years ago
This explains it all:
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2003/18jun_approachingmars.htm
www.universetoday.com is an excellent website that gives you information on what's happening in the Astronomy world!

 

[Phobos]

On 27 August

That's the peak, plus/minus a month will still be great viewing! I'm excited!

The last time it was this close 60 000 years ago

roughly (predictions of planetary positions becomes more uncertain when calculating over thousands of years)

another article...
http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/planets/article_985_1.asp

 

[Draco]

Yeah i guess you're right
It'd be even better if Mars covered half the sky on earth

 

[quantumcarl]

Originally posted by Draco
On 27 August
Just thought you guys would like to know. The last time it was this close 60 000 years ago
This explains it all:
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2003/18jun_approachingmars.htm
www.universetoday.com is an excellent website that gives you information on what's happening in the Astronomy world!

Way cool! Thanks Draco!...

Actually, Mars is missing half its crust (the northern half)... who knows what else flew off when it was bombarded with a few objects, some of which were over 100k in size... within the last 100,000 years. I would imagine that our sky was filled with the results of that explosion for a while, back then. Not as pretty as a nice close up look at her, mind you!

So... does 56,000,000 km closer mean we can knock a year or so off the time it takes to get there?