Mars closest to Earth today after 15 years
Posted on: 31/Jul/2018 4:11:24 PM
As a rare occurrence which happens only once in 15 years, the planet Mars is set to be at its nearest distance to Earth today (Tuesday, 31st July). Special arrangements have been made in the Birla Planetarium to watch this rare occurrence.
There are 6 planets orbiting in an elliptical path around the earth, The 1st among these planets is Mars. The earth crosses the planet Mars in its elliptical orbit once in 26 months. In other words, the planet Mars and Earth would be placed in diametrically opposite positions. As the planet Mars is orbiting in a larger elliptical path, the distance between Mars and Earth keeps changing.
Accordingly, from 27th July, Earth would be in a diametrically opposite position to Mars. Today is the occasion when the distance between Mars and Earth is the lowest – in other words, Mars is located at its nearest point to Earth. This is around 5.76 Crores km according to the Tamil Nadu Science and Technology Centre.
According to an announcement from NASA (USA), the distance between the earth and Mars will be 5.73 Crores km. In its regular course, the planet Mars revolves at a distance of 38 Crore km. Earlier, during the year 2003, Mars revolved at a distance of 5.57 Crores km from earth.
In this situation, in order to watch the planet at its nearest point to Earth, special arrangements have been made at the Birla Planetarium. The Executive Director of the Tamil Nadu Science and Technology Centre, Soundararaja Perumal, has informed that the public can visit the Birla Planetarium to watch this event through special telescopes from 7.00 PM to 9.00 PM
