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This Week, Mars Is The Closest to Earth It'll Be For Another 15 Years
www.sciencealert.com ^ | 5 OCTOBER 2020 | JACINTA BOWLER

Posted on 10/06/2020 7:57:37 AM PDT by Red Badger

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To: windsorknot

The mail-in ballots are already on the way.


21 posted on 10/06/2020 8:21:15 AM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four Fried Chickens and a Coke)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

Meteors soon to follow!


22 posted on 10/06/2020 8:26:10 AM PDT by mylife (Opinions: $1, Today's Special: Half Baked, 50c)
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To: Red Badger

“Our second closest cosmic cousin”

Great.

Another relative to feed at Thanksgiving.


23 posted on 10/06/2020 8:29:09 AM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer”)
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To: Red Badger

24 posted on 10/06/2020 8:31:55 AM PDT by real saxophonist (Masks are not about controlling a virus. Masks are about controlling people.)
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To: Red Badger

Mars was BEAUTIFUL last night! SOOOO bright and orange/red!


25 posted on 10/06/2020 8:32:43 AM PDT by originalbuckeye ('In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act'- George Orwell.)
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To: mylife

Where is the earth shattering KABOOM!


26 posted on 10/06/2020 8:39:43 AM PDT by minnesota_bound (homeless guy. He just has more money....He the master will plant more cotton for the democrat party)
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To: Red Badger
"This Week, Mars Is The Closest to Earth It'll Be For Another 15 Years"

Aw, crap! I know how this ends:


27 posted on 10/06/2020 8:54:25 AM PDT by PLMerite ("They say that we were Cold Warriors. Yes, and a bloody good show, too." - Robert Conquest)
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To: PLMerite

#27 a “Chinese virus” kills them all : )


28 posted on 10/06/2020 9:18:06 AM PDT by minnesota_bound (homeless guy. He just has more money....He the master will plant more cotton for the democrat party)
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To: Red Badger
Good news! That means I can reach it with just 310 fill-ups...
29 posted on 10/06/2020 9:32:37 AM PDT by SuperLuminal (Where is Sam Adams now that we desperately need him)
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To: Red Badger

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d4/76/35/d476353a9ac7b4b7963a310880ea2cae.jpg

Where is the Kaboom?

There is supposed to be an Earth Shattering Kaboom!


30 posted on 10/06/2020 9:46:27 AM PDT by woodbutcher1963
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To: qam1
I can’t picture in my mind why they don’t all happen at the same time.

Mars has a more eccentric orbit than Earth. Rather than flying in parallel imagine Mars on a diagonal path relative to Earth's orbit. The greatest brilliancy is based on a combination of Sun-to-Mars and Mars-to-Earth distance. Since Mars is moving away from the sun now, I would have expected greatest brilliancy to be just before the closest approach.

31 posted on 10/06/2020 9:56:30 AM PDT by KarlInOhio (In 2016 Obama ended America's 220 year tradition of peaceful transfer of power after an election.)
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To: KarlInOhio

Actually the Greatest Brilliancy is the one I understand.

When Mars is at Opposition it is “Full”, that is 100% illumination. When it is at Closest Approach it’s not as full (Still 99%+), but that is enough that the slightly fuller phase will brighten it more than the growing distance away will dim it, so Mars at opposition will actually be brighter than closest approach.

It’s Greatest Brilliancy will be a combo of phase & distance but since phase changes generally have more of an effect than distance the Greatest Brilliancy will occur nearer to opposition vs closest approach.

Phase vs Distance works with the inner planets. Venus The farther it gets the fuller it becomes which pretty much means it’s always the same brightness no matter how close or far. An amazing coincidence, equal to that of the moon being the same size as the sun as seen from earth allowing total eclipses. Mercury on the other hand phase is everything which means it is always brightest during Superior Conjunction and will dim to Inf. Conjunction and vice versa.


32 posted on 10/06/2020 10:44:30 AM PDT by qam1 (There's been a huge party. All plates and the bottles are empty, all that's left is the bill to pay)
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To: qam1

If the closest approach is today, does that mean Mars is close enough for us to see the flag left there by our astronauts?


33 posted on 10/06/2020 11:08:36 AM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: Verginius Rufus
Yes.

Blnk
34 posted on 10/06/2020 12:11:31 PM PDT by minnesota_bound (homeless guy. He just has more money....He the master will plant more cotton for the democrat party)
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To: Red Badger

Get your eyes to Mars! ;^)


35 posted on 10/06/2020 12:26:35 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: Army Air Corps
It's close enough to smell the Martian B.O.

36 posted on 10/06/2020 12:37:22 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Mars has it’s own barrack obama?


37 posted on 10/06/2020 12:43:13 PM PDT by Leep (We can go to the grocery store but we can't go to work?)
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To: Leep
Good place for the body anyway.

38 posted on 10/06/2020 12:47:22 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: goldbux

Looks like a bowling ball.


39 posted on 10/06/2020 3:18:46 PM PDT by goldbux (No sufficiently rich interpreted language can represent its own semantics. -- Alfred Tarski, 1936)
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To: Army Air Corps

Naw. Klingons only hang around Uranus.


40 posted on 10/06/2020 5:18:33 PM PDT by attiladhun2
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