Ekaterinburg citizens will witness the conjunction of the Moon and Mars in the end of July

11:36, July 4, 2018

Engineer of UrFU Observatory shares the area where one can observe unique astronomical events

The exceedingly rare event of Moon and Mars conjunction will take place at night on July 27-28. It will be the longest Moon eclipse in XXI century.

‘The eclipse may be observed by the unaided eye in open areas such as Plotinka or MeteoGorka, where the south side of the sky is more easily seen,’ says university observatory engineer Vladilen Sanakoev. The altitude of the Moon will be up to 13 degrees, Mars will rise up to 9. The Moon ingress to the Earth’s shadow will take place, so it will be several times less bright than Mars. Both celestial bodies will be of a reddish hue.

On July, 31 Mars will be at the closest possible distance to the Earth – 57,6 million km (35,7 million miles), which is about 150 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon. Using a telescope with 75X magnification (or more) one can observe Mars in the same scale as the Earth satellite, because the fourth planet from the Earth is bigger than the Moon.

‘It’s really exciting to examine the frequency of such simultaneous occurrences, but the calculations so far show that nothing comparable will happen in XXI century,’ says Sanakoev. 

The scientists have also confirmed the summer meteoric shower at the end of July, but the frequency with be 25 meteors an hour, so it will be hard to notice, the city residents will be able to see one meteor at most.