Archive

Archive for January 14, 2025

Ephemeris: 01/14/2025 – Mars reaches opposition tomorrow – What that means

January 14, 2025 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, January 14th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 10 minutes, setting at 5:27, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:16. The Moon, 1 day past full, will rise at 6:14 this evening. | Tomorrow the planet Mars will be in opposition to the Sun. That means it will rise at sunset and set at sunrise. This is the time we are closest to Mars or near closest to Mars of its current pass. Mars comes in opposition from the Sun about every 26 months on average. Currently, Mars is farther from the Sun than average. It has a large swing in distances from the Sun and so at this time moves slower than average. The time between oppositions is only 25 months currently. The various space agencies know that opposition time is the best time to launch spacecraft to Mars. However, they launch several months ahead of opposition for the spacecraft to arrive several months after opposition for the least amount of energy needed for the journey.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EST, UT – 5 hours). Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

The Mars oppositions from the last closest opposition in 2018 to the next closest opposition in 2035
The Mars oppositions from the last closest opposition in 2018 to the next closest opposition in 2035, including tomorrow’s opposition of January 15th 2025. The tick marks on the orbits specify the perihelion or the closest a planet approaches the Sun and aphelion, the farthest. They are labeled for Mars, but they are not for the Earth. Earth’s perihelion comes in early January and aphelion occurs in early July. The difference in Earth’s perihelion and aphelion is only 3 million miles, for Mars it’s 30 million. We’ll revisit this on Thursday. Created using my LookingUp app, LibreOffice Draw and GIMP.
Categories: Concepts, Ephemeris Program, Observing Tags: ,