Mars

MARS

Mars Apparition - Opposition 2012 MAR 03

A plotting of the planet in equatorial coordinates of current date during 2011 NOV 19 to 2012 JUN 21

Mars Declination - 2003-2018

A plotting of the declinations of the planet at oppositions from 2003 to 2018

Mars Angular Diameter - 2012

Graph of the apparent angular diameter of Mars measured in arcseconds during 2012 - Distance in AU = 9.36 / angular diameter

Mars, Earth & Sun at Oppositions - 2003-2018

Diagram demonstrating the relative positions of Mars, Earth and Sun at oppositions from 2003 to 2018

Mars Appearing as Big as a Full Moon!!! - 2010 AUG 27

Diagram demonstrating how Mars would appear as big as a Full Moon on 2010 AUG 27 AS THE SPAMMERS WANTED YOU TO BELIEVE! (LOL)

Click for Astronomy Books & Planispheres

2012 APPARITION OF MARS

Ruddy Mars has reentered our evening skies. Its 2012 MAR 03 opposition from the Sun was the most distant of its current 15 to 17-year cycle, but at least it has gotten fairly high in the sky for northern hemisphere observers.

Mars commenced apparent retrograde motion in right ascension on 2012 JAN 25. Opposition as measured by greatest elongation from the Sun came on MAR 03, when Mars was rising about sunset, transiting the local meridian at local midnight, and setting around sunrise. On that date its declination was +10.2° and its apparent axial tilt as viewed from Earth was +22.2°.

Greatest brilliance was expected on MAR 04 at magnitude -1.2. Mars was its closest to Earth for this cycle on MAR 05 at a distance 0.6737 AU with an angular diameter of 13.9 arcseconds. Apparent direct motion resumed on APR 15. Eastern quadrature will come on JUN 08 long before Mars conjuncts with Sun on 2013 APR 18.

On AUG 14 Mars will pass Spica by 2°. On AUG 15 Mars will appear to pass Saturn by 3°. On OCT 21 Mars will pass Antares by 4°. On 2013 FEB 08 Mercury will pass Mars by only 0.25° and again on 2013 FEB 25 by 4°.

The Moon will appear to pass near Mars on 2012 MAY 29, JUN 26, JUL 24, AUG 22 & SEP 19. On that last date the Moon will occult Mars for observers in South America. More Moon-Mars conjunctions will come on OCT 18, NOV 16, DEC 15, 2013 JAN 13, FEB 11 & MAR 12.

NOTE: Events are geocentric in Universal Time unless otherwise noted.

* A meridian transit occurs when a celestial body crosses an observer’s local north-south line in the sky. That is practically simultaneous with culmination, i.e. the highest altitude for the day. The Mars meridian transit times in the above linked graph can be easily transformed for your location. The given times are nearly the same for the central meridians of all time zones, i.e. those evenly divisible by 15° such as 75°, 90°, 105° or 120°. Do not adjust to UT. Simply add 4 minutes for each degree west of a central meridian, or subtract 4 minutes for each degree to the east. If on daylight savings time, add an hour.

Mars Stellar Magnitude - 2012

Graph of the brightness of Mars measured in stellar magnitude during 2012

Mars Illumination Phase - 2012

Graph of the percentage of Mars’ apparent disk illuminated during 2012

Mars Meridian Transit Time* - 2012

Graph of the times that Mars transits the prime meridian in 2012

Mars Apparent Axial Tilt Graph - 2012

Graph of the tilt of Mars’ rotational axis as viewed from Earth during 2012

Positive if north pole tilted toward Earth - Negative if south pole tilted toward Earth