BEIJING, Dec. 19 (Xinhuanet) -- The planet Mars
was closest to Earth Tuesday night at 11:45 Universal Time since 2003 and will
be the closest until 2016, U.S. astronomers said as quoted by media reports
Wednesday.
People are able to see Mars by naked eyes till early
February 2008, as the planet moves opposite the sun and nearest the Earth.
On average Mars moves closest to the Earth every two
years and two months. These periodic encounters are due to the differences in
the two planets' orbits. Earth goes around the sun twice as fast as Mars,
lapping the Red Planet about every two years. Both planets have elliptical
orbits, so their close encounters are not always at the same distance.
This year, Mars comes as close as 54.8 million miles
(some 87 million km) -- not as close as the historic pass-by of 2003 (55.36 km),
but still a night-brightener.
Although 2003 offered astronomers a view of Mars
closer than this year's approach, Hubble's most recent detailed look at the red
planet shows it's free of dust storms. However, ice crystal clouds in the
northern and southern polar caps can be seen.
When the clouds do part, anyone can spot Mars,
gleaming high above the northeastern horizon after sunset. Its reddish hue sets
it apart from the bright stars of the winter constellations in that part of the
sky.
Its brightness would start to fade from late January
onward.
Mars looks like an orange star to the naked eye, but
it's revealed as a disk with many features in modest telescopes.
Considered as the same type of planet in the Solar
system as Mercury, Venus and the Earth, the surface of Mars has changed
considerably due to volcanic explosions, frequent meteor strikes and dust storms
within the planet's atmosphere.
(Agencies)
