Good news for Astronomy enthusiasts and skywatchers—on January 16, Mars, Earth, and the Sun will align perfectly, offering another rare opportunity to witness this celestial spectacle.
Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun, is famously known as the ‘Red Planet’ due to its iron-rich surface, which gives it a reddish hue.
Throughout history, various civilizations, including the Romans and Greeks, named the planet after their God of War, while the Egyptians called it “Her Desher,” meaning “the red one.”
This alignment, known as “opposition,” happens about every two years. As Earth completes nearly two full orbits around the Sun, Mars, which takes 687 days to orbit once, lines up with the Earth and Sun in a straight line, making it visible in the night sky.
Babul Chandra Bora, the consulting scientific officer at the Guwahati Planetarium, shared that while the recent cloudy skies hindered the view, Mars will still be visible on January 16.
It is also worthnoting that , the distance between Earth and Mars will be slightly farther, with Mars currently over 96 million kilometers away.
The closest approach of Mars occurred in August 2003, when it came as close as 56 million kilometers to Earth. A similar rare event, known as ‘perihelion opposition,’ won’t happen again until 2287.
Don’t miss your chance to catch this stunning cosmic alignment on January 16!