Are we not making more out of this than there really is? Certainly, Mars is closer than it has been, but only by a small amount. We have the chance to see Mars at a somewhat similar distance roughly every fifteen years. Of the perihelic oppositions of Mars, 23 August 1923, 10 September 1956, and 10 August 1971 have all been within 0.3 seconds of arc of this latest opposition. This is only 1.2% smaller than the current opposition! Not much when you talk about observing visually. The difference between this opposition and the 1923 opposition requires at least 4 significant figures to differentiate. (That is less than 0.1%, and more like 0.05%) The opposition in 2018 will be .386 a.u., and the opposition in 2035 will be .382 a.u. as compared to this one at .376 a.u. The angular size will be 24.1 and 24.5 seconds of arc compared to our 25.1. You won't see much difference there. I enjoy looking at Mars as well as the next guy, but I think the emphasis on this being the closest oposition in 60,000 years is at best overstatement, and at worst misleading. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com