Mars is on a date with Earth

Mars is on a date with Earth

Mars is on the date of a close encounter with Earth.

Mars, it's far?

On October 13, the planet Mars will rise at sunset in an astronomical phenomenon called "opposition," in which the planet is facing the sun on the other side of the earth. If the sun goes down, it shines and vice versa.

The orbit of Mars.

The planet Mars revolves around the sun in a cycle of less than two Earth years (1.8 years) known as the "stellar cycle", but it meets Earth at a point close to each other once every 2.13 years, which is the "cycle of the conjunction" because it connects Mars to Earth and the Sun on a distant line. It is the lowest between them.

With each encounter, the distance between the two planets decreases to 57 million kilometers on the day of the "greatest encounter" which occurs once every 15 years, and the last time was two ago. years on July 27, 2018, and before that. on August 28, 2003, and the distance between them increases to 400 million kilometers while the planet is on the other side of us in its orbit around the sun.

In its current encounter with Earth, which takes place on Tuesday, October 13, 2020, the distance between us and Mars will be approximately 63 million km, which will allow amateurs to observe it with their telescopes.

How to see Mars.

As Mars slowly approaches Earth and winter sets in at its south pole, white ice caps begin to emerge behind the lenses of amateur telescopes.

And because the Martian atmosphere is thin, and in the event that it is calm and not excited by dust, the characteristics of the surface of Mars will also be clear, and the most important of these characteristics is a huge landmark called "Arabia" because it looks like it, and it is a light-colored area adjacent to a dark-colored landmark called in Latin "Certus Major", which is the Gulf of Libya on the coast of Sidra, located in the Libyan Jamahiriya. These names were launched by the International Astronomical Union.

Is Mars visible to the naked eye?

If you want to know more about Mars, you have to look east an hour after sunset, to find a bright red celestial body glowing in that direction, and no other light is better than this at except for Jupiter, which is close to a brilliant white in the middle of the sky.

Besides Jupiter and a little to the left of it, you can also see the planet Saturn a little faint, and so you have gathered the vision of 3 bright planets in the sky at a time.

Suspicious movement.

Mars is a planet with an external orbit with respect to the Earth (i.e. it is slower in its rotation around the sun than the Earth), it stops during its movement from west to east (as seen in relation to distant stars), then returns from east to west, that is, in the opposite direction of its initial motion. About a month or so, it stops again to return to its first eastward movement as it was.

The explanation is that the fast Earth when it reaches the point of passing slow Mars, shows its inhabitants that Mars has started to turn around, and as soon as the Earth moves away from it in its orbit, the phenomenon disappears and Mars returns to its original form of motion. All the exoplanets that follow it participate in this phenomenon, but it is less visible and perceptible.

Hobbyists and those interested should not miss any activity or activity to observe Mars, as its view from behind telescope lenses is truly magnificent, as it is the closest planet to Earth at this time.

Mars with a network of immense lakes

Mars with a network of immense lakes

For the first time, the discovery of a network of huge lakes on the surface of Mars.

Mars

An international research team has been able to discover a network of lakes that lie beneath the layers of snow at the south pole of Mars, the first time this type of water formation has been discovered on the surface of the Red Planet, which will radically affect future research plans on Mars.

Radar payslips.

The results of the study were published in Nature Astronomy, and the University of Southern Queensland, in which it participated, issued a statement on the 28th of September.

To achieve these results, this team used the radar detection mechanism on board the Italian spacecraft "MARSIS", which has been in orbit around Mars since 2003.

According to the new study, "MARSES" searches for water under the snow by the same mechanism by which it detects subglacial lakes at the planet's poles, as it launches radio waves at the surface of the planet and then receives its reaction which varies between bouncing off rocks, snow or water.

The subglacial lake is a term for the presence of water lakes under ice caps, and they form because the high pressure below lowers the melting point of ice and turns into water.

Although this is not the first time that scientists have discovered the presence of water in this area of the south pole of Mars, as a study published in the prestigious journal Science indicated that there was a lake of water in the same area for two years ago, this is the first time that we have discovered a network of lakes.

According to the study, this detection not only confirms the validity of the results of the first detection, but also proves that it was not a coincidence and that the presence of several lakes suggests that it was a common phenomenon on the surface of the Red Planet, and also indicates that the geology of the planet carries it as something natural and possible.

On the other hand, the results of the study indicate that the water in these new lakes is likely to be salty and contains elements such as calcium, magnesium, and sodium, a finding that will help in the future to study the geological history of the planet.

But most strikingly, it might one day answer the most important question: if Mars once held so much water, where has it all gone?

Therefore, this opens an additional door to questions about the existence of life on the Red Planet. Although it is an arid desert with a bad climate, life can be found in these subglacial lakes among the nutrients of many bacteria.

Galactic year

Galactic year

If the earth year is 365 days, what is the galactic year?

A year is the period of time required for a planet or an asteroid to complete a full orbit around its star, like the solar year of planet Earth, which is about 365 days, which is the period during which our planet makes a complete rotation around its star.
Likewise, a galactic year is a period in which the Sun rotates to complete a full orbit around the supermassive black hole that sits at the center of the Milky Way about 28,000 light-years away.

Galactic year.

According to Keith Hawkins, assistant professor of astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin, just once in orbit around the Milky Way does the Sun go from around 220 million to 230 million Earth years. (LiveScience).

In this case, if we measure time using the "galactic clock", then the entire age of the Earth will be around 16 galactic years, and the sun will have formed around 20 galactic years, and l he universe age will be around 60 galactic years.

“The solar system's journey around the galaxy is similar to the Earth's orbit around the sun. However, instead of orbiting a star, the sun revolves around the supermassive black hole that lies at the center of the galaxy. the Milky Way, ”says Hawkins.

During its journey around the center of the Milky Way, the sun moves at a very fast speed, estimated at around 230 kilometers per second, which equates to 500,000 miles per hour (804.672 km/hour).

This allows it to continue to circle around the center of the galaxy in a circle instead of being drawn towards the black hole. It is also the speed at which an object can travel around the Earth at the equator in 2 minutes 54 seconds.

Our place in the galaxy.

Just as the year of the Earth differs from the year of the other planets in our solar system, the galactic year relative to the sun differs from the galactic year relative to other stars in the same galaxy, and it only depends on the distance to the planet or star from the center around which it orbits. A galactic year is therefore not a fixed measurement across the galaxy.

Hawkins returns to explain, “You could say that the year of the galaxy relative to the sun is between 220 and 230 million years of Earth years. As with other stars in the galaxy, the year of their galaxy is different. "

The diameter of the galaxy is about 100,000 light-years, and Earth is about 28,000 light-years from its center. “If you imagine the galaxy as a city, then Earth is somewhere near the suburbs,” says Hawkins.

"For stars orbiting near the black hole, the center of the city, the Hungarian year is relatively short." And in the suburbs, where our solar system is located, the galactic years are a bit longer.

Different planetary years.

These same rules govern the variation in the length of the year between planets. The further away from the sun, the greater the year of this body.

For example, Mercury, the planet closest to the sun, performs one full orbit around the sun in about 88 Earth days. As for Mars, its year is equal to 687 days. The planet Uranus, ranked seventh after the sun, revolves around the sun every 84 years, by Earth standards.

Pluto, which ceased to be a planet after its demotion in 2006, needs to have the longest year in the solar system's main group of 248 Earth years, which to complete an orbital cycle around the sun.

As for Venus, it takes 224.65 days to orbit the Sun, roughly the same size as Earth. But the time it takes to end a day by turning is longer than the time it takes to orbit the sun, so it's the only planet in our solar system that has one day more than its year.

If the galactic year of the sun is roughly equal to 220 to 230 million Earth years, and if we go back in time to one galactic year, Earth will be very different, so there is no Internet, no cell phones, not even humans, and the first dinosaurs will be the ones roaming the Earth at that time.

Solar cycle

Solar cycle

Far from the crises of the planet, our Sun lived a fairly calm year. A closer look at its activity confirms what sun worshipers have been wary of for some time: Our nearest star has entered a new cycle of its life.

The sun

Since we started to seriously track dark sunspots, humans have observed a pattern of rest and activity that repeated about every 11 years. There have been 24 such cycles since sightings were first recorded in the mid-18th century.

The 25th cycle.

According to a statement released by a panel of experts from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and posted on the first website on September 15, December 2019 marks the start of the 25th session.

“We keep a detailed record of the few small sunspots that signal the start and emergence of a new cycle,” says Frederick Clitt, director of the World Data Center Sunspot Index and Long-term Solar Observations.

And he adds, according to a report from Science Alert, "These are the few promises of giant solar fireworks in the future. Only by following the general trend over several months will we be able to determine the turning point between the two. sessions. "

In practice, the differences in the behavior of the Sun make it impossible to define a new beginning until this beginning has passed. It took sifting through the solar activity data for the past eight months to make sure the past year was a boring calm.

Mechanisms behind the cycles.

Despite centuries of painstakingly recording eleven-year cycles, we still do not know the mechanisms behind these successful cycles. Star periodicity is very common in the universe, where you find a variety of thrilling objects that seem to ignite at intervals that you can almost set your clock.

The patterns of our sun are best determined by changes in their magnetic fields, which in turn are driven by complex currents of plasma flowing deep within it. Exactly what animates and attracts these currents in this rhythmic manner is the part we have to find out, but there is a temptation to associate it with a similar frequency in the orbits of the planets.

As NASA solar energy scientist Lika Gohatakurta says, “When we step out of the solar minimum and approach the 25th maximum, it is important to remember that solar activity never stops. changes when the pendulum swings. "

While the cycle of ups and downs occurs over an 11-year period, it more accurately represents a reflection of a larger 22-year cycle defined by the complete reversal of the sun's polarity. Every 11 years, the poles change and return to their place at the end of the next episode.

Worry-free monitoring.

Observing these changes can help us better predict space weather, which is largely driven by bursts of charged plasma and radiation that can explode fiercely in space, especially during peak solar periods.

It will take another 5 years or so before we can say that we are in the middle of the Sun's most aggressive phase. That's not to say we don't need attention right now.

We also need to keep an eye on whether or not Solar Cycle 25 will exhibit, even though it's unlikely to be explosive. Cycle 24 was relatively calm compared to the previous sessions, which were a bit stronger than usual.

“Just because it's a below-average solar cycle doesn't mean there's no risk of extreme space weather,” says Doug Bisker, committee co-chair, and heliophysics at the Space Weather Prediction Center. NOAA in Colorado.

He adds that "the impact of the sun on our daily life is real and there". But it helps to be realistic about what this effect is. Here on Earth, you are protected several miles from the atmosphere, and the solar cycles are barely noticeable.

Venus with sign of life

Venus with a sign of life

For the first time, scientists discover signs of life on Venus.

venus

A joint international research team has been able to find chemical signs indicating the possibility of life on Venus, and this is the first time that scientists have been able to watch for these signs after they were just predictions. decades.

Signs of life.

The results were published in the journal Nature Astronomy and announced on the European Science Observatory (ESO) website on September 14/2020.

To reach it, scientists used the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope for a Short Time (JCMT), located in the US Hawaiian Islands, to observe the atmosphere of Venus.

After that, these results were confirmed using the Atacama Large Millimeter Array, or ALMA for short, which is located in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile and contains 45 maps, which allowed scientists to monitor the planet's atmosphere and analyze its components with a high degree of precision.

According to the new study, the team was surprised at the presence of large amounts of phosphine, PH3, in the planet's atmosphere. That was not planned.

Phosphine gas is formed on Earth due to the presence of living organisms, either due to human activity or the metabolism of certain types of bacteria, and scientists do not know - according to the study - any chemical methods for its production on Venus.

This led to the conclusion that the presence of phosphine has a possible relationship with the presence of living organisms - possibly bacteria - in the planet's atmosphere, but this does not mean confirmation of the existence of life. there, because there may be chemical mechanisms. that scientists do not yet understand what caused this, especially since the atmosphere of Venus is dense. It is very rich in complex chemical compounds that can unwittingly interact with each other or with sunlight.

Earth twin.

Venus is called "Earth's twin" because it is almost similar to our planet in size but completely different in everything else. There, massive global warming has caused it to reach 465 degrees Celsius, which is higher than the daytime temperature of Mercury, which is closest to the sun.

It is believed that Venus was once as blue as Earth over 4 billion years ago, but due to the increasing activity of the sun, its oceans have evaporated to create this very dense atmosphere.

The researchers hope that these results will help in directing the eyes of researchers, and their telescopes, by extension, towards one of the planets closest to Earth, hoping that we can monitor any image of life on it, but until this moment we do not know a home for life except our good earth.