Posted on: Tuesday, August 26, 2003

Close encounter with Mars tonight likely to be best view in 57,000 years

Advertiser Staff

Tonight's astronomical display of Mars will be a once-in-a-lifetime event.

The planet will outshine everything in the sky tonight except the moon from about 9 p.m. to about midnight when it will be directly overhead, said Jim Miller, chairman of the National Sciences and Mathematics Division at Chaminade University of Honolulu.

The sky show will continue tomorrow and Thursday, starting at about the same time.

It won't be difficult to pick out Mars.

"It's very vivid orange," Miller said. "It's very bright now."

Chaminade has scheduled the official opening of its new E.L. Wiegand

Observatory to mark the first time in 57,000 years that the two planets have been this close.

And close is only relative: Mars will be 34.6 million miles away. Normally, when it's on the other side of the sun, farthest from Earth, it's 300 million miles away.

"We'll be recording it tonight with our telescope," Miller said.

Chaminade tried Sunday night, but overcast skies cast a pall over the viewing from the observatory perched on the ridge overlooking Palolo Valley, Miller said.

"Hopefully, tonight we'll have a better view," he said. "Our telescope will help further our study of the galaxy."

Bishop Museum will host a stargazing party from 8 p.m. to midnight tomorrow. There will be telescopes on the lawn, planetary shows and Mars rover demonstrations for children.