AST 1002: "Study Guide" Figure 23

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Fig. 9b  Fig. 13b  Fig. 23  Fig. 24  Fig. 25  Fig.26a  Fig.26b  Fig. 27  Fig. 28  Fig. 29  Fig. 30

Figure 24. Mars at Conjunction and Opposition

(Eccentricities of orbits ignored.)

Earth & Mars Orbits

The above diagram shows that Mars varies in its distance from the Earth by a factor of about 5 to 1, a very large change! This helps explain why Mars changes its observed brightness on the sky so much. When Mars is near conjunction to the Sun, Mars dims below magnitude +1 (North Star is +2). However, when near opposition, Mars can sometimes outshine Jupiter (magnitude about -2.5). This is a factor of over 25 times!

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