Atmosphere Amazement

Thursday, 26 July 2018 12:32

Despite not being able to view July's Blood Moon lunar eclipse, there is a Mars Opposition beginning tomorrow that we can see in our area.

OXFORD COUNTY - The sky will be full of wonder tomorrow.

For the other side of the world, a lunar eclipse will be on full display for people to see, which is the earth's shadow falling onto the moon.

There is an exciting spectacle on the horizon that is visible here in Oxford County and beyond It's called Mars opposition, and is a unique opportunity to see the Red Planet up close. Mars reaches opposition with the sun tomorrow, allowing us earthlings to have the closest view of the planet since 2003.

Both Mars and Earth both orbit the sun, but at different distances, and thus, different speeds. Every two years or so, Mars, Earth and the sun form a straight line during the course of their orbits, with Earth in the middle.

Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Western University, Rob Cockroft says Mars will be the closest it has been in 15 years and begins the same day as tomorrow's full moon or "Blood Moon."

"Relatively Speaking they are close together and that means that when you look at Mars through a telescope it actually appears quite a bit bigger, almost twice as big and very much brighter than it normally would say if we were on the opposite side of the sun."

Cockroft adds that Western University's Hume Cronyn Memorial Observatory will be holding a special public event for the occasion best seen on Tuesday July 31st.

"If people are interested, if they are in the area, if they are in London, or if they want to come especially to come and see this, then we will be open. The telescopes, it's a free event. You can come and spend as little or as long as you would like looking through the telescope looking at Mars."

The special viewing will begin at 8:30 p.m. and wrap up at 1 a.m.

This is one of many special public nights being held at the observatory over the summer. You can find more information online here.