-- under construction ! --

Mars 2001

Mars came into its Opposition on June 13, 2001 in constellation Ophiuchus. Little later, on June 21, 2001, the planet will come to its closes distance to Earth this year: 67.34 million km (42 million miles). This approach offered another opportunity to launch spacecraft to the red planet, which was used by Nasa to send the 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft, also previously called Mars Surveyor 2001 Orbiter.

The planet was situated very south at declination -26 to -27 at opposition time so that Northern hemisphere observers found it comparatively low in the southern horizon. The planet became as bright as mag -2.4 and of diameter 20.8 arc seconds around that time.

Mars Oppositions | < 1999 | 2003 >

Hartmut Frommert [contact]

Last Modification: September 20, 2003