Astrophoto: Kaleidoscopic View of Mars

By Nancy Atkinson - July 21, 2014 03:52 PM UTC | Planetary Science

Astrophotographer Leo Aerts from Belgium took advantage of the recent opposition of Mars and captured the Red Planet both "coming and going" in this montage of images taken from October 2013 to June of 2014. Mars reached opposition in April of this year, meaning it was closest to Earth, allowing for the brightest and best viewing.

Leo even shows the changing locations in the sky where Mars appeared across the months, allowing also for the apparent retrograde motion through Virgo during the months on either side of opposition.

Opposition of Mars (or any planet) means that planet and the Sun are on directly opposite sides of Earth. From our perspective on a spinning Earth, the other planet rises in the east just as the Sun sets in the west. Then, after staying up in the sky the entire night, the other planet sets in the west just as the Sun rises in the east.

Mars' opposition happens about every 26 months. Opposition time is also a good time to send spacecraft to Mars, since our two planets are the closest, meaning less fuel (and time) will be needed to reach the planet. Hence, we've got two missions on their way to the Red Planet:

MAVEN

will arrive at Mars on September 21, 2014, and India's

Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM)

will get there on September 24.

This year's opposition was pretty close, but we're currently on an improving trend: the next opposition in 2016 Mars will look even bigger and brighter and during the 2018 opposition, Mars will nearly be as close as it was in 2003.

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Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com