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The superior planets, orbiting outside the Earth's orbit, do not exhibit a full range of phases since their maximum phase angles are smaller than 90°. Mars often appears significantly gibbous, it has a maximum phase angle of 45°. Jupiter has a maximum phase angle of 11.1° and Saturn of 6°, [1] so their phases are almost always full.
The variation in magnitude caused by changes in elongation are greater the closer the planet's orbit is to the Earth's. Mars' magnitude in particular changes with elongation: it can be as low as +1.8 when in conjunction near aphelion but at a rare favourable opposition it is as high as −2.9, which translates to seventy-five times brighter ...
"Inferior planet" refers to Mercury and Venus, which are closer to the Sun than Earth is. "Superior planet" refers to Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune (the latter two added later), which are further from the Sun than Earth is. The terms are sometimes used more generally; for example, Earth is an inferior planet relative to Mars.
For some objects, such as the Moon (see lunar phases), Venus and Mercury the phase angle (as seen from the Earth) covers the full 0–180° range. The superior planets cover shorter ranges. For example, for Mars the maximum phase angle is about 45°. For Jupiter, the maximum is 11.1° and for Saturn 6°. [1]
Because the orbit of Mars is considerably eccentric its brightness at opposition can range from magnitude −3.0 to −1.4. [14] The minimum brightness is about magnitude +1.6 [14] when Mars is on the opposite site of the Sun from the Earth. Rotational variations can elevate or suppress the brightness of Mars by 5% and global dust storms can ...
Diagram showing the eastern and western quadratures of a superior planet like Mars. In spherical astronomy, quadrature is the configuration of a celestial object in which its elongation is a right angle (90 degrees), i.e., the direction of the object as viewed from Earth is perpendicular to the position of the Sun relative to Earth.
"The idea is to either ship the material or better yet, ship the manufacturing tool and make the nanorods on the planet since iron and aluminum are abundant on the surface of Mars," Ansari said.
Mars Global Surveyor imaged the Earth and Moon on May 8, 2003, 13:00 UTC, very close to maximum angular elongation from the Sun and at a distance of 0.930 AU from Mars. The apparent magnitudes were given as −2.5 and +0.9. [8] At different times the actual magnitudes will vary considerably depending on distance and the phases of the Earth and ...