Due to “opposition” event, Mars outshined Jupiter, becoming the third brightest object (moon and Venus are first and second, respectively) in the night sky during the month of October.
- This year, while Mars’ closest approach to Earth was on October 6, the opposition happened on October 13, which gave the planet its “biggest, apparent size of the 2020s”.
- Mars’s next close approach will happen on December 8, 2022, when the planet will be 62.07 km away from the Earth. Even so, the closest approach does not mean that Mars will appear to be the same size as that of the moon.
- Opposition is the event when the sun, Earth and an outer planet (Mars in this case) are lined up, with the Earth in the middle. It takes place every two years and two months
- The time of opposition is the point when the outer planet is typically also at its closest distance to the Earth for a given year, and because it is close, the planet appears brighter in the sky.
- As per NASA, during opposition, Mars and the sun are on directly opposite sides of Earth. From our perspective on our spinning world, Mars rises in the east just as the sun sets in the west. Then, after staying up in the sky the entire night, Mars sets in the west just as the sun rises in the east. Since Mars and the sun appear on opposite sides of the sky, we say that Mars is in “opposition.”
(Source: NASA and Indian Express)
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