A rare phenomenon… ‘Red Planet’ disappears from Earth’s sky
In a unique astronomical event, the planet Mars disappeared from the Earth’s sky on Saturday, November 18, 2023, and will continue to remain hidden for two weeks.
Some may think the disappearance of Mars, also known as the ‘Red Planet,’ is a dramatic and alarming event, but in reality, it is not, as it is the result of a scientific phenomenon known as ‘conjunction.’
‘Conjunction’ is the period during which the sun obscures Mars and Earth from each other, and this event occurs every two Earth years.
In the conjunction, both Mars and the sun will be in the Libra constellation, making the ‘Red Planet’ not observable for several weeks as it will be covered by the glow of our star.
During the solar conjunction, the two planets (Mars and Earth, respectively) will be at their farthest distance from each other. The usual distance between Mars and Earth is approximately 140 million miles (225 million kilometers), but during the solar conjunction, the separation between Earth and Mars will be about 235 million miles, more than double and a half the average distance between our planet and the sun.
Space.com mentioned that in the coming months, Mars will appear on the sunlit side and will be visible for longer periods in the sky before dawn. It added that in about a year, Mars will reach the ‘opposition’ point, and at that time, Mars will be visible most of the night above Earth.
During the solar conjunction, scientists on Earth will lose contact with Mars rovers, mobile vehicles will cease operation, the ‘Ingenuity’ helicopter will be grounded, and spacecraft will not send data to Earth.
According to the site, this is done to prevent the possibility of charged particles from the sun interfering with the operations of robots or spacecraft, causing the loss of some information.
NASA stated in a press release about the phenomenon: ‘The agency postpones sending commands to its Mars fleet for two weeks, from November 11 to November 25, while Earth and the Red Planet are on opposite sides of the sun.’
The statement added: ‘Tasks are temporarily suspended because the hot ionized gas emanating from the sun’s corona can disrupt radio signals sent from Earth to NASA‘s Mars rover, leading to unexpected behaviors.’
