Dr A P Bhat

Udupi, Apr 9: A rare celestial event is set to occur on Wednesday April 9 when the red planet Mars will fall in a straight line with Sun and Earth. On this day Mars will appear to be larger, brighter, because it will be nearer to earth. This even is called Mars opposition.

At 8 pm during this month red glittering Mars is near to the star Spica in the eastern night sky.

This cosmic alignment  called opposition occurs every 778 days or two years one month 18 days. Earth travels faster as it is closer to the Sun (15 crore km) completing around 365 days, while Mars that is further (24 crore km) from Sun takes 687 days to travel.

On April 9 the distance between Mars and Earth will be 9.2 crore km.

As the sun sets in the west in the evenings, Mars will rise in the east and will be visible throughout the night.

Mars was at a distance of ten crore kilometers from the Earth in 2012. It will be at a distance of 9.2 crore km in April 2014, 7.5 crore km in 2016 and 5.8 crore km in 2018.  It comes still closer every fifteen years.  It was 5.3 crore km in 2003 and will be 5.8 thousand km on July 27, 2018.

If the sky is clear, the twinkling star Arcturus can be seen in north east. The pole star in the north and Orion star in the west can be seen throughout the month.