It will be worth looking at the sky in October: Mars will shine brighter than any star in the southern sky. The phenomenon can be seen with the naked eye.

The number one astronomical event of the fall is the opposition to Mars, that is, its proximity to Earth: the red planet will be closest to us on October 6, approaching Earth about 62 million kilometers away. The apparent size of our planetary neighbor will be a multiple of the average throughout October, and when viewed with the naked eye it will shine as a brighter red dot in the southern sky than any star.

What’s more, the planet is now visible right next to the moon: it will be visible in our companion’s neighborhood on Friday night around 8 o’clock, but the closest will be the closest on Saturday at sunrise, so that it is easy to pierce the red-orange planet with the naked eye. The last Mars-Moon ensemble was recorded by astrophotographer Péter Rozner:

In the next few days, the disk and the polar pole of the planet will be visible with smaller telescopes, and with medium resolution telescopes at least 20 centimeters in diameter, the two moons of Mars: Phobos and Deimos will be visible. There will be a live demonstration of the spectacular phenomenon at the Svábhegy Observatory on the night of October 7 with astronomer László Kiss.

The phenomenon is also special because the next time in the 2030s, Mars will be very close to us. The planet, by the way, “gets closer” to Earth about every 26 months, but the distance between the two planets is different each time, depending on where the two celestial bodies are in their elliptical orbits around the Sun. In 2018, for For example, that distance was 57.8 million kilometers, and in 2003 we were closer to the red planet: 55.7 million kilometers.

“Although this year we are a little further from Mars, it has a slightly smaller apparent diameter, but it is much higher than during the great opposition of 2018,” Krisztián Sárneczky, astronomy researcher at the Research Center for Astronomical Sciences, told MTI and the Earth.

The observability of the red planet is actually the most favorable every 15-17 years, this is called great oppositions, added the astronomer. Next time in 2035 there will be great opposition.

Sárneczky also said that Mars will be in the sky from October 13-14, when the red planet will be visible from dusk to dawn, when it will also reach its peak of brightness. In the afternoon you can find it in the east, in the middle of the night in the south, and at dawn you can already find it on the western equator, like a red dot that shines brighter than the stars. The astronomer says that the red planet will be observable throughout October, as it does not lose its brightness as quickly. However, if you also want to admire its surface, it is recommended to visit an observatory.

In addition to the proximity of Mars, the southern taurids, which provide the brightest autumn meteors, are also in full swing in October. The swarm doesn’t give off too many meteorites, but they are characterized by very high-brightness fireballs that can be extremely spectacular.

If you want to read about similar things at another time, you will like the HVG Tech Facebook page, which is also about astronomical news.



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