2010 Mars Apparition Charts

Mars will soon be in opposition to the Sun and out all night! All of my following calculations are true for both UT and American Central Time dates.

Mars achieved western quadrature (90° from Sun) on 2009 OCT 29. Apparent retrograde movement commenced on DEC 20. Its closest approach for this apparition will occur on 2010 JAN 27 at 0.66396 AU with an angular diameter of 14.1 arcseconds. Greatest brilliance with magnitude -1.3 along with greatest elongation and the opposition in longitude with declination of N 22.2 ° will happen on JAN 29. Opposition in right ascension will occur on JAN 30. Apparent direct motion will resume on MAR 10. Mars will achieve eastern quadrature on MAY 04. On that date it will appear as a gibbous 89.7% illuminated with a magnitude of +0.8 and an angular diameter of 7.1 arcseconds. Conjunction with the Sun in longitude will occur on 2011 FEB 04.

I’ve created four charts demonstrating the current apparition of Mars and comparing it with those that follow. Included is a graph of the apparent angular diameter of Mars. They can be seen by clicking: http://www.curtrenz.com/astronomical

Photos and descriptions of Mars would be welcome additions to this thread.

Curt,

Finally got a clear night here in Ohio - we have been under the plume of clouds blowing off Lake Michigan most of the time since November...Of course, the temperature was about 8 degrees, so I made a "hit and run" 10 minute observation of Mars. The seeing was terrible, but during a few still moments, the polar cap was beautiful. Much more visible than during the past two oppositions that I observed. Mars is smaller, as advertized. Color same as sand in bright sunlight, polar cap white with a darker gray area surrounding it. I can't wait until Wed or Thurs this week with predicted clear skies and temps in the 20s.

Any other observations of Mars would be appreciated.

Rick

8" Dob at 160x.

The Full Moon during the night of 2010 JAN 29/30 will be at perigee and at its closest distance from Earth for 2009-2010 with 356,593 km separating their centers. Not only will the Moon be in opposition to the Sun, but so will Mars. That night the especially bright Full Moon will pass about 6° or 7° south of magnitude -1.3 Mars, depending on your location. Sorry, Mars observers. At least we “lunatics” will appreciate the situation. But it should prove to the credulous multitude that Mars at opposition does not appear as large as a Full Moon, LOL. For my graphic with data for the next 15 Full Moons click: http://www.curtrenz.com/astronomical then go to the Moon page.