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OBJECTS IN OPPOSITION WHEN: LATE AUGUST - EARLY SEPTEMBER 2023
BBC Science Focus
|August 2023
Opposition describes an object being opposite the Sun in the sky. For some planets this can be a big deal, as the weeks around opposition offer us the best views of them. At opposition a planet is also visible all night long.
The inferior planets (those with smaller orbits than Earth), Mercury and Venus, can't reach opposition. For superior planets (those with larger orbits than Earth) the effect of opposition decreases with distance.
Nearby Mars reaches opposition every 2.1 years. Most of the time it appears small and distant, but for a few months either side of opposition Mars becomes bright and, through a telescope, its size increases noticeably.
This story is from the August 2023 edition of BBC Science Focus.
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