Stargazing News - January 11th, 2025
From
CJ@21:2/156 to
All on Fri Jan 10 08:23:42 2025
Saturday, January 11, 2025
Mars Closest to Earth (overnight)
A few days before Mars reaches opposition on January 15-16, the red planet
will be closest to Earth on Saturday, January 11 in the Americas. That night, Mars will be 59.70 million miles, 96.08 million km, or 5.33 light-minutes
away. You can view the bright reddish planet from late evening onward, near
the bright stars Pollux and Castor in Gemini. In a telescope, the planet will exhibit its maximum apparent disk size of 14.6 arc-seconds, revealing the greatest amount of surface detail this year. Mars will continue to brighten in the sky until opposition night. The difference in the two dates arises because the distance between Earth's and Mars' elliptical orbits is increasing at this time of the year.
(Data courtesy of Starry Night)
--- SBBSecho 3.23-Linux
* Origin: CJ's Place, Orange City FL > cjsplace.thruhere.net (21:2/156)