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The planets come into opposition near Mars's perihelion in 2003, 2018 and 2035, with the 2020 and 2033 events being particularly close to perihelic opposition. [192] [193] [194] Mars seen through a 16-inch amateur telescope, at 2020 opposition. The mean apparent magnitude of Mars is +0.71 with a standard deviation of 1.05. [19]
The axial tilt and eccentricity of Earth (and Mars) are by no means fixed, but rather vary due to gravitational perturbations from other planets in the Solar System on a timescale of tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of years. Thus, for example Earth's eccentricity, currently about 1% regularly fluctuates and can increase up to 6%.
In English, the planet Mars is named after Mars, the Roman god of war, [1] an association made because of its red color, which suggests blood. [2] The adjectival form of Latin Mars is Martius, [3] from which the English word Martian derives, used as an adjective or for a putative inhabitant of Mars, and Martial, used as an adjective corresponding to Terrestrial for Earth. [4]
Spotting Mars at opposition is easier than you might think because the planet will stand out due to its color and radiance. Instead of appearing a whitish yellow shade like the stars, it will be a ...
The planet has remained under observation by ground and space-based instruments across a broad range of the electromagnetic spectrum.The discovery of meteorites on Earth that originated on Mars has allowed laboratory examination of the chemical conditions on the planet.
Mars comes closer to Earth more than any other planet save Venus at its nearest—56 million km is the closest distance between Mars and Earth, whereas the closest Venus comes to Earth is 40 million km. Mars comes closest to Earth every other year, around the time of its opposition, when Earth is sweeping between the Sun and Mars. Extra-close ...
For instance, for a large portion of names ending in -s, the oblique stem and therefore the English adjective changes the -s to a -d, -t, or -r, as in Mars–Martian, Pallas–Palladian and Ceres–Cererian; [note 1] occasionally an -n has been lost historically from the nominative form, and reappears in the oblique and therefore in the English ...
NASA's Mariner 9 reached the planet's orbit first on November 14, narrowly beating the Soviet's spacecraft amid the space race, and subsequently became the first spacecraft to orbit another planet. [1] Contact with all eight Mars orbiters launched during the 20th century has been lost. NASA's four spacecraft are conjectured to remain in Mars ...