I received the following email today:
This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars in an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287. Because of uncertainties due to the way Jupiter’s gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be sure that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the last 5,000 years, but it may be as long as 60,000 years before it happens again.
The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles of Earth and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide.
Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye. Mars will be easy to spot. At the beginning of August it will rise in the east at 10 p.m. and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m.
By the end of August when the two planets are closest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at 12:30 a.m. That’s pretty convenient to see something that no human being has seen in recorded history. So mark your calendar at the beginning of August to see Mars grow progressively brighter and brighter throughout the month.
Unfortunately, according to this article, it’s not true. The closest Earth-Mars approach in history happened in August of 2003. But don’t fret overmuch since Earth-Mars oppositions occur about every 26 months. The next one will be in November 2005, and while it won’t be historic it’ll still be worth seeing.
It was too hot to cook tonight, so my family decided to try Hagen’s Orange Freeze in Carmichael.
I’m pretty sure this used to be the original Merlino’s restaurant, and the new owners apparently are sticking closely to the Merlino’s freeze recipe! We’ve tried several flavors of their fruit freezes, and even the “worst” one isn’t bad:
- pineapple — the adults’ favorite, the kids both like it
- orange — Caitlin’s favorite, a close second for the adults, Caira likes it too
- strawberry — Caira’s favorite, everybody else likes it
- lemon — like frozen, tart lemonade, good, but not in the top 3
- lime — add some rum and this would be awesome, good without rum but not in the top 3
The next flavors up in the tasting order are grapefruit and watermelon. FYI, the small freeze looks pretty tiny to today’s “super-sized” eyes, but you’d be amazed how long it takes to finish!
The food’s okay–not great, not bad. We came back for the freezes, and incidentally got some food. They have a selection of hot sandwiches, but the burgers are the best things we’ve tried so far. Four burgers, four small freezes, and two large fries (which are pretty good) cost us about $25 tonight.
Hagen’s is located at 2520 Walnut Ave, just north of El Camino Ave, in Carmichael. Phone 916-489-7842. As far as I can tell, they’re not on the web, but they have a “yellowbook” ad.
Woo hoo! Thanks to Hugh, we just caught up with Chicago for the third largest boardgames meetup in the world! If you’re in the Sacramento area, check out our event calendar and come see why a cow town like Sacramento can overshadow a major city like Chicago. We’ve got an awesome group of friendly gamers, and we’re adding new events to our calendar all the time.
