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It's big, it's red and it's much closer

Posted on: Thursday, 28 August 2003, 06:00 CDT

IT IS a once-in-a-60,000-year event -- and the clouds parted just in time.

Sky watchers who went to view Mars through the New Plymouth Observatory's telescope last night, originally thought they would be leaving disappointed, because of a sky full of heavy rain clouds.

But about 9.15pm, Mars shone in all its glory and the group of 19 people at the observatory got a once-in-a-lifetime view of the red planet.

Last night, Mars was only 56 million kilometres away from Earth - - the closest it had been for 60,000 years.

The next time Mars will be so close will be on August 28, 2287.

The 19 people who turned up at the observatory, had to settle for seeing the red planet via a slide show instead.

What usually appears as a dot only slightly bigger than the stars around it, Mars is now shining three times brighter than normal.

New Plymouth Astronomical Society secretary Sue Baines said the weather was expected to clear tonight as well, allowing for a another view of Mars through the telescope and with the naked eye.

"People are very interested. We are fully booked for the six Mars sessions we are running," she said.

But, if the weather is bad tonight, try Mars on the Internet.

Images come from Mars robotic missions including Surveyor and Rover and the Hubble Space Telescope.

Good sites include:

msss.com/mars images/

or, mars.jpl.nasa.goc/mgs/

or, nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/ photo gallery/photogallery-mars

or, photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/

or, mars.sgi.com/

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