Martian Calender - I have created a martian calender...

tahanson43206 · 2023-11-30 07:15:34

===
Today on Mars: 0037/12/23 Monday Days of the week offset 3 with Earth. (count from Mars to Earth (updated 2023/09/27))

Today on Earth: 2023/11/30 Thursday (Earth Date) Post Title: Today on Mars [Aphelion occurred May 30, 2023 Earth Calendar]
====*=

Per http://www-mars.lmd.jussieu.fr/mars/tim … _time.html also see: in-the-sky.org for opposition/perigee/aphelion

Martian Year: 37 Martian Astronomical Month in 12 month format: 6 <<== The Astronomical month will increment when longitude reaches 180 degrees

===
Solar Longitude: 155.2 Sol Number: 330 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037330
Solar Longitude: 154.7 Sol Number: 329 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037329
Solar Longitude: 154.2 Sol Number: 328 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037328
==#

Note that Solar Longitude measurement varies as a function of location in orbit. Ls 0 is the moment when the Sun appears to transit from one hemisphere to the other. Update from Mars.NASA.gov (The Sun crosses the equator of Mars (Vernal Equinox)). The transition itself is a function of the tilt of an object with respect to the Solar plane. Per squarewidget.com, Hipparchus created the celestial coordinate system we use today.

Note#2: https://theskylive.com/mars-tracker This web site shows the astronomical position of Mars as seen from Earth
Todo: At next Aphelion/Perihelion record the Mars data J00##### (and set Search term)
Perihelion occurred at Ls 251 on Sol 485 - Earth Date 2022/06/21 Next: (estimated) 2024/05/08
Perihelion occurred at Ls 253 on Sol 485 Earth Date 2020/08/03 Earlier: 2018/09/16, 2016/10/29
Aphelion occurred at--- Ls 071 on Sol 152. Aphelion Earth Dates: Earlier: 2017/10/07, 2015/11/20
Aphelion occurred near Ls 070 on Sol 153 (per www.planetary.org)

Note#3: The computations below are dependent upon both the computations provided by the reference web site and by accuracy of recording of the time of observations. The calculations use tenths of hours. The Sun Distance needs to be captured at the moment the time increments to a given tenth.

Note on data below: The figure quoted after distance is a rate of progress along the orbital path [exact meaning to be determined]
Minus prefix means Mars is approaching the Sun. Plus prefix means Mars is moving away from the Sun.
The figure computed to the right of "Difference" is the rate of change of the distance to Sun. Increasing to Aphelion/Decreasing to Perihelion.

===
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 227,615,630 km [24.2 km/s] Difference is -194704 <= -8112 km/hour at 08.0 on 11/30 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 227,810,334 km [24.1 km/s] Difference is -194462 <= -8103 km/hour at 08.0 on 11/29 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 228,004,796 km [24.1 km/s] Difference is -194474 <= -8103 km/hour at 08.0 on 11/28 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
====*===

Observation: The sky view is ** filled ** with objects and some have been recorded and given identification by humans or their robot assistants
And! ** All ** the location assignments are from the perspective of Earth. The entire catalog needs to be adjusted when inter-stellar travel begins
The work that lies ahead for the astronomical community is daunting - there is work ahead for centuries
2022/01/19 - All current (existing) stellar catalogs are computed with reference to the Earth. Another civilization would use it's planet as reference.
Perhaps a Milky Way frame of reference will become necessary at some point. The Earth is as good a Zero point as any, for humans.

=== Mars is in Regular Movement as seen from Earth. Mars is progressing from upper right to lower left in the view from Earth.
Next up: Star above path: TYC 6213-1324-1 RA 16h 10m 09.6s – Day 0 -
PGC 829835 at far left on Day 0 – Day 1 Below Mars Likely last day for 835
====*====*===

Zoom Out Capability As a general observation ... I've become increasingly interested in knowing what the larger view of the sky might be like.
The site: theskylive.com does a terrific job of matching the view from Earth towards Mars, against a background of actual astronomical plates.
I wish there were a way (or rather, I wish I ** knew ** about a way that may exist) to enlarge the view until the entire galaxy is in view (Zoom out)
Update 2022/12/08 TheSkyLive.com provides a large view of selected objects: Select [Major Bodies] Then select [Information] in the body of interest
Update 2022/12/08 Scroll down to (body) Position and Finder Charts. Field of view is 50x30 degrees.

Note: The curve of the path of Mars as seen against the background of stars is now a line heading left at a downward angle.
As of 2023/01/11, the curve of the path has returned to regular movement to the left border

Light travel time today is between 21 and 22 minutes. Communications delay would be 42+ minutes round trip.

===
Earth Distance 2023/11/30 374,635,289 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/11/29 374,903,192 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/11/28 375,197,921 (decreasing)
#>

Light travel in one second is (about) 300,000 kilometers. The distance covered in one minute is about 18,000,000 kilometers. Estimated light times:
1:18, 2:36, 3:54, 4:72, 5:90, 6:108, 7:126, 8:144,9:162,10:180,11:198,12:216,13:234,14:252,15:270,16:288,17:306,18:324,19:342,20:360,21:378,22:396

Mars and Earth are moving apart after Opposition. Maximum Earth-Mars is estimated to be 401 kilometers (both at apogee and opposite vs Sun)
Mars and Earth were in Opposition (Earth center) in December of 2022. The date coincided with a (very rare) occultation of Mars by the Moon.
Mars and Earth were in Conjunction (Sun center) in November of 2023.
Mars and Earth appear to have been as close as they will get in this cycle. 81,454,323 kilometers on J0036644 Time: 4.53 minutes - 9 minutes round trip

In his online interview with Dr. Zubrin at the 2020 Mars Conference, Elon Musk reminded the audience that communications with Mars will necessarily include an intermediary station to handle traffic when the Sun is between Mars and Earth. Communications delays in that circumstance will increase due to the extra distance to be covered. Mr. Musk indicated he expects such communication will be handled by laser. Location would be optimum at poles of solar plane.

Regular movement of Mars as seen from Earth resumed as of 2023/01/13. RA is once again increasing.
According to www.hercampus.com, Retrograde movement began October 30, 2022.
The online solar system display at the link below shows clearly how the Mars movement will occur in months ahead.

This web site offers an online model of the solar system: www.solarsystemscope.com It requires Chrome 57, Firefox 52 or Safari 10.1. Viewed 2022/10/13: Opposition will occur some time in December of 2022. Per earthsky.org, the date is December 8, 2022.

This web site offers an online orrery view of the Solar System: https://www.theplanetstoday.com/

===
Sol 330 is in Month 12 of a Proposed 24 month calendar. See Post 19 of Holidays topic for a summary.
Month 12 extends from Sol 308 through 334. <<== There are 27 days in Month 12. See post 82 of Holidays topic for current details.
Direct path to source: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257
Sol 330 is Monday in the Proposed Business calendar for Mars.
##

The Next New Year's on Mars will occur when Solar Longitude reaches 360 degrees. <<== The current year on Mars is 37
Per www.planetary.org Year 36 started 2021/02/07 on Earth. Mars Year 37 began 2022/12/27 on Earth.

The last Skip Day occurred September 27, 2023 on Earth. A Skip Day occurs when the longer Mars Sol accumulates 24 Earth hours.
The next Skip day is expected November 2, 2023 (range 1 before >> 1 after) on Earth.

Count of days in current skip period: 39
Days of the Week Alignment:
Days of the week fall behind Earth due to the longer Sol, but they also change when Friday is omitted at the end of a Quarter
337 Earth days were observed to elapse in the 2020 weekday cycle. There were 7 week day transitions and 2 Quarter ends.
The next cycle began on the first Sol of the period of coincidence. The alignment of weekdays interval is in the range: (310 - 337)
To find the first day of a period of coincidence: Set up: SearchTerm(colon) and (colon)Alignment and J0036* or J0037*
The most recent End-Of-Quarter change occurred: … The search specified above gave 11 pages of results.

For current weather on Mars see:

***https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/weather/***
***Insight's weather info has been suspended and now is directing to msl*** <<-- Insight's mission is over (2022)

https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/weather/

Per SpaceNut: Here is another web page by NASA containing the latest news releases

https://mars.nasa.gov/news/?page=0&per_ … ope=Latest

All forum members are invited to post significant events for this day.
Events of interest will be ON Mars, or relate to Mars. Examples are launches, landings, discoveries

Standard Month in Mars Business Calendar Copyright ® 2023 NewMars.com Mars Society
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1    2    3    4    5    6    7
8    9 10    11 12 13 14
15 16 17    18 19 20 21
22 23 24    25 26 27 28

Recruiting text may be found at the bottom of this post: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257

Month 12 of 24: This is the last month of the Second Quarter. (27 Sols)

tahanson43206 · 2023-12-01 07:11:02

===
Today on Mars: 0037/12/24 Tuesday Days of the week offset 3 with Earth. (count from Mars to Earth (updated 2023/09/27))

Today on Earth: 2023/12/01 Friday (Earth Date) Post Title: Today on Mars [Aphelion occurred May 30, 2023 Earth Calendar]
====*=

Per http://www-mars.lmd.jussieu.fr/mars/tim … _time.html also see: in-the-sky.org for opposition/perigee/aphelion

Martian Year: 37 Martian Astronomical Month in 12 month format: 6 <<== The Astronomical month will increment when longitude reaches 180 degrees

===
Solar Longitude: 155.8 Sol Number: 331 Change in degrees is +.6 Julian date is: J0037331
Solar Longitude: 155.2 Sol Number: 330 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037330
Solar Longitude: 154.7 Sol Number: 329 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037329
==#

Note that Solar Longitude measurement varies as a function of location in orbit. Ls 0 is the moment when the Sun appears to transit from one hemisphere to the other. Update from Mars.NASA.gov (The Sun crosses the equator of Mars (Vernal Equinox)). The transition itself is a function of the tilt of an object with respect to the Solar plane. Per squarewidget.com, Hipparchus created the celestial coordinate system we use today.

Note#2: https://theskylive.com/mars-tracker This web site shows the astronomical position of Mars as seen from Earth
Todo: At next Aphelion/Perihelion record the Mars data J00##### (and set Search term)
Perihelion occurred at Ls 251 on Sol 485 - Earth Date 2022/06/21 Next: (estimated) 2024/05/08
Perihelion occurred at Ls 253 on Sol 485 Earth Date 2020/08/03 Earlier: 2018/09/16, 2016/10/29
Aphelion occurred at--- Ls 071 on Sol 152. Aphelion Earth Dates: Earlier: 2017/10/07, 2015/11/20
Aphelion occurred near Ls 070 on Sol 153 (per www.planetary.org)

Note#3: The computations below are dependent upon both the computations provided by the reference web site and by accuracy of recording of the time of observations. The calculations use tenths of hours. The Sun Distance needs to be captured at the moment the time increments to a given tenth.

Note on data below: The figure quoted after distance is a rate of progress along the orbital path [exact meaning to be determined]
Minus prefix means Mars is approaching the Sun. Plus prefix means Mars is moving away from the Sun.
The figure computed to the right of "Difference" is the rate of change of the distance to Sun. Increasing to Aphelion/Decreasing to Perihelion.

===
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 227,420,762 km [24.2 km/s] Difference is -194868 <= -8120 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/01 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 227,615,630 km [24.2 km/s] Difference is -194704 <= -8112 km/hour at 08.0 on 11/30 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 227,810,334 km [24.1 km/s] Difference is -194462 <= -8103 km/hour at 08.0 on 11/29 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
====*===

Observation: The sky view is ** filled ** with objects and some have been recorded and given identification by humans or their robot assistants
And! ** All ** the location assignments are from the perspective of Earth. The entire catalog needs to be adjusted when inter-stellar travel begins
The work that lies ahead for the astronomical community is daunting - there is work ahead for centuries
2022/01/19 - All current (existing) stellar catalogs are computed with reference to the Earth. Another civilization would use it's planet as reference.
Perhaps a Milky Way frame of reference will become necessary at some point. The Earth is as good a Zero point as any, for humans.

=== Mars is in Regular Movement as seen from Earth. Mars is progressing from upper right to lower left in the view from Earth.
Next up: Galaxy below path: PGC 92484 RA 16h 12m 52.9s at far left on Day 0 -
TYC 6213-1324-1 RA 16h 10m 09.6s – Day 0 – Day 1 – Above 9 hours past marker – last day for 1324
====*====*===

Zoom Out Capability As a general observation ... I've become increasingly interested in knowing what the larger view of the sky might be like.
The site: theskylive.com does a terrific job of matching the view from Earth towards Mars, against a background of actual astronomical plates.
I wish there were a way (or rather, I wish I ** knew ** about a way that may exist) to enlarge the view until the entire galaxy is in view (Zoom out)
Update 2022/12/08 TheSkyLive.com provides a large view of selected objects: Select [Major Bodies] Then select [Information] in the body of interest
Update 2022/12/08 Scroll down to (body) Position and Finder Charts. Field of view is 50x30 degrees.

Note: The curve of the path of Mars as seen against the background of stars is now a line heading left at a downward angle.
As of 2023/01/11, the curve of the path has returned to regular movement to the left border

Light travel time today is between 21 and 22 minutes. Communications delay would be 42+ minutes round trip.

===
Earth Distance 2023/12/01 374,321,718 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/11/30 374,635,289 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/11/29 374,903,192 (decreasing)
#>

Light travel in one second is (about) 300,000 kilometers. The distance covered in one minute is about 18,000,000 kilometers. Estimated light times:
1:18, 2:36, 3:54, 4:72, 5:90, 6:108, 7:126, 8:144,9:162,10:180,11:198,12:216,13:234,14:252,15:270,16:288,17:306,18:324,19:342,20:360,21:378,22:396

Mars and Earth are moving apart after Opposition. Maximum Earth-Mars is estimated to be 401 kilometers (both at apogee and opposite vs Sun)
Mars and Earth were in Opposition (Earth center) in December of 2022. The date coincided with a (very rare) occultation of Mars by the Moon.
Mars and Earth were in Conjunction (Sun center) in November of 2023.
Mars and Earth appear to have been as close as they will get in this cycle. 81,454,323 kilometers on J0036644 Time: 4.53 minutes - 9 minutes round trip

In his online interview with Dr. Zubrin at the 2020 Mars Conference, Elon Musk reminded the audience that communications with Mars will necessarily include an intermediary station to handle traffic when the Sun is between Mars and Earth. Communications delays in that circumstance will increase due to the extra distance to be covered. Mr. Musk indicated he expects such communication will be handled by laser. Location would be optimum at poles of solar plane.

Regular movement of Mars as seen from Earth resumed as of 2023/01/13. RA is once again increasing.
According to www.hercampus.com, Retrograde movement began October 30, 2022.
The online solar system display at the link below shows clearly how the Mars movement will occur in months ahead.

This web site offers an online model of the solar system: www.solarsystemscope.com It requires Chrome 57, Firefox 52 or Safari 10.1. Viewed 2022/10/13: Opposition will occur some time in December of 2022. Per earthsky.org, the date is December 8, 2022.

This web site offers an online orrery view of the Solar System: https://www.theplanetstoday.com/

===
Sol 331 is in Month 12 of a Proposed 24 month calendar. See Post 19 of Holidays topic for a summary.
Month 12 extends from Sol 308 through 334. <<== There are 27 days in Month 12. See post 82 of Holidays topic for current details.
Direct path to source: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257
Sol 331 is Tuesday in the Proposed Business calendar for Mars.
##

The Next New Year's on Mars will occur when Solar Longitude reaches 360 degrees. <<== The current year on Mars is 37
Per www.planetary.org Year 36 started 2021/02/07 on Earth. Mars Year 37 began 2022/12/27 on Earth.

The last Skip Day occurred September 27, 2023 on Earth. A Skip Day occurs when the longer Mars Sol accumulates 24 Earth hours.
The next Skip day is expected November 2, 2023 (range 1 before >> 1 after) on Earth.

Count of days in current skip period: 39
Days of the Week Alignment:
Days of the week fall behind Earth due to the longer Sol, but they also change when Friday is omitted at the end of a Quarter
337 Earth days were observed to elapse in the 2020 weekday cycle. There were 7 week day transitions and 2 Quarter ends.
The next cycle began on the first Sol of the period of coincidence. The alignment of weekdays interval is in the range: (310 - 337)
To find the first day of a period of coincidence: Set up: SearchTerm(colon) and (colon)Alignment and J0036* or J0037*
The most recent End-Of-Quarter change occurred: … The search specified above gave 11 pages of results.

For current weather on Mars see:

***https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/weather/***
***Insight's weather info has been suspended and now is directing to msl*** <<-- Insight's mission is over (2022)

https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/weather/

Per SpaceNut: Here is another web page by NASA containing the latest news releases

https://mars.nasa.gov/news/?page=0&per_ … ope=Latest

All forum members are invited to post significant events for this day.
Events of interest will be ON Mars, or relate to Mars. Examples are launches, landings, discoveries

Standard Month in Mars Business Calendar Copyright ® 2023 NewMars.com Mars Society
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1    2    3    4    5    6    7
8    9 10    11 12 13 14
15 16 17    18 19 20 21
22 23 24    25 26 27 28

Recruiting text may be found at the bottom of this post: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257

Month 12 of 24: This is the last month of the Second Quarter. (27 Sols)

tahanson43206 · 2023-12-02 07:10:07

227,225,804 km [24.2 km/s]

One day note:

The Mercury probe is in the view:

BepiColombo is a joint mission between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to study Mercury, the smallest and least explored planet in our solar system. The mission consists of two spacecraft: the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) built by the ESA, and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO) built by JAXA. The spacecraft were launched on October 20, 2018, aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana. The primary scientific objectives of the mission are to study Mercury's magnetic field, its composition, the geology of its surface, and its interaction with the solar wind. The mission will also investigate the planet's exosphere and study its geological history. BepiColombo is expected to arrive at Mercury in December 2025, after several gravity assist flybys of Earth, Venus, and Mercury itself.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2023-12-02 08:01:17

===
Today on Mars: 0037/12/25 Wednesday Days of the week offset 3 with Earth. (count from Mars to Earth (updated 2023/09/27))
One day note: The Mercury probe, BepiColumbo, is in the view today. It is expected to reach Mercury in 2025.
Today on Earth: 2023/12/02 Saturday (Earth Date) Post Title: Today on Mars [Aphelion occurred May 30, 2023 Earth Calendar]
====*=

Per http://www-mars.lmd.jussieu.fr/mars/tim … _time.html also see: in-the-sky.org for opposition/perigee/aphelion

Martian Year: 37 Martian Astronomical Month in 12 month format: 6 <<== The Astronomical month will increment when longitude reaches 180 degrees

===
Solar Longitude: 157.3 Sol Number: 332 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037332
Solar Longitude: 156.8 Sol Number: 331 Change in degrees is +.6 Julian date is: J0037331
Solar Longitude: 156.2 Sol Number: 330 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037330
==#

Note that Solar Longitude measurement varies as a function of location in orbit. Ls 0 is the moment when the Sun appears to transit from one hemisphere to the other. Update from Mars.NASA.gov (The Sun crosses the equator of Mars (Vernal Equinox)). The transition itself is a function of the tilt of an object with respect to the Solar plane. Per squarewidget.com, Hipparchus created the celestial coordinate system we use today.

Note#2: https://theskylive.com/mars-tracker This web site shows the astronomical position of Mars as seen from Earth
Todo: At next Aphelion/Perihelion record the Mars data J00##### (and set Search term)
Perihelion occurred at Ls 251 on Sol 485 - Earth Date 2022/06/21 Next: (estimated) 2024/05/08
Perihelion occurred at Ls 253 on Sol 485 Earth Date 2020/08/03 Earlier: 2018/09/16, 2016/10/29
Aphelion occurred at--- Ls 071 on Sol 152. Aphelion Earth Dates: Earlier: 2017/10/07, 2015/11/20
Aphelion occurred near Ls 070 on Sol 153 (per www.planetary.org)

Note#3: The computations below are dependent upon both the computations provided by the reference web site and by accuracy of recording of the time of observations. The calculations use tenths of hours. The Sun Distance needs to be captured at the moment the time increments to a given tenth.

Note on data below: The figure quoted after distance is a rate of progress along the orbital path [exact meaning to be determined]
Minus prefix means Mars is approaching the Sun. Plus prefix means Mars is moving away from the Sun.
The figure computed to the right of "Difference" is the rate of change of the distance to Sun. Increasing to Aphelion/Decreasing to Perihelion.

===
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 227,225,804 km [24.2 km/s] Difference is -194958 <= -8123 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/02 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 227,420,762 km [24.2 km/s] Difference is -194868 <= -8120 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/01 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 227,615,630 km [24.2 km/s] Difference is -194704 <= -8112 km/hour at 08.0 on 11/30 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
====*===

Observation: The sky view is ** filled ** with objects and some have been recorded and given identification by humans or their robot assistants
And! ** All ** the location assignments are from the perspective of Earth. The entire catalog needs to be adjusted when inter-stellar travel begins
The work that lies ahead for the astronomical community is daunting - there is work ahead for centuries
2022/01/19 - All current (existing) stellar catalogs are computed with reference to the Earth. Another civilization would use it's planet as reference.
Perhaps a Milky Way frame of reference will become necessary at some point. The Earth is as good a Zero point as any, for humans.

=== Mars is in Regular Movement as seen from Earth. Mars is progressing from upper right to lower left in the view from Earth.
Next up: Star TYC 6213-872-1 RA 16h 15m 47.4s At far left below path on Day 0 -
Note Mercury probe passing through the view … BepiColumbo is on it's long looping journey due to arrive in 2025
PGC 92484 RA 16h 12m 52.9s at far left on Day 0 – Day 1 Under 9 hours past marker
====*====*===

Zoom Out Capability As a general observation ... I've become increasingly interested in knowing what the larger view of the sky might be like.
The site: theskylive.com does a terrific job of matching the view from Earth towards Mars, against a background of actual astronomical plates.
I wish there were a way (or rather, I wish I ** knew ** about a way that may exist) to enlarge the view until the entire galaxy is in view (Zoom out)
Update 2022/12/08 TheSkyLive.com provides a large view of selected objects: Select [Major Bodies] Then select [Information] in the body of interest
Update 2022/12/08 Scroll down to (body) Position and Finder Charts. Field of view is 50x30 degrees.

Note: The curve of the path of Mars as seen against the background of stars is now a line heading left at a downward angle.
As of 2023/01/11, the curve of the path has returned to regular movement to the left border

Light travel time today is between 21 and 22 minutes. Communications delay would be 42+ minutes round trip.

===
Earth Distance 2023/12/02 374,029,772 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/12/01 374,321,718 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/11/30 374,635,289 (decreasing)
#>

Light travel in one second is (about) 300,000 kilometers. The distance covered in one minute is about 18,000,000 kilometers. Estimated light times:
1:18, 2:36, 3:54, 4:72, 5:90, 6:108, 7:126, 8:144,9:162,10:180,11:198,12:216,13:234,14:252,15:270,16:288,17:306,18:324,19:342,20:360,21:378,22:396

Mars and Earth are moving apart after Opposition. Maximum Earth-Mars is estimated to be 401 kilometers (both at apogee and opposite vs Sun)
Mars and Earth were in Opposition (Earth center) in December of 2022. The date coincided with a (very rare) occultation of Mars by the Moon.
Mars and Earth were in Conjunction (Sun center) in November of 2023.
Mars and Earth appear to have been as close as they will get in this cycle. 81,454,323 kilometers on J0036644 Time: 4.53 minutes - 9 minutes round trip

In his online interview with Dr. Zubrin at the 2020 Mars Conference, Elon Musk reminded the audience that communications with Mars will necessarily include an intermediary station to handle traffic when the Sun is between Mars and Earth. Communications delays in that circumstance will increase due to the extra distance to be covered. Mr. Musk indicated he expects such communication will be handled by laser. Location would be optimum at poles of solar plane.

Regular movement of Mars as seen from Earth resumed as of 2023/01/13. RA is once again increasing.
According to www.hercampus.com, Retrograde movement began October 30, 2022.
The online solar system display at the link below shows clearly how the Mars movement will occur in months ahead.

This web site offers an online model of the solar system: www.solarsystemscope.com It requires Chrome 57, Firefox 52 or Safari 10.1. Viewed 2022/10/13: Opposition will occur some time in December of 2022. Per earthsky.org, the date is December 8, 2022.

This web site offers an online orrery view of the Solar System: https://www.theplanetstoday.com/

===
Sol 332 is in Month 12 of a Proposed 24 month calendar. See Post 19 of Holidays topic for a summary.
Month 12 extends from Sol 308 through 334. <<== There are 27 days in Month 12. See post 82 of Holidays topic for current details.
Direct path to source: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257
Sol 332 is Wednesday in the Proposed Business calendar for Mars.
##

The Next New Year's on Mars will occur when Solar Longitude reaches 360 degrees. <<== The current year on Mars is 37
Per www.planetary.org Year 36 started 2021/02/07 on Earth. Mars Year 37 began 2022/12/27 on Earth.

The last Skip Day occurred September 27, 2023 on Earth. A Skip Day occurs when the longer Mars Sol accumulates 24 Earth hours.
The next Skip day is expected November 2, 2023 (range 1 before >> 1 after) on Earth.

Count of days in current skip period: 39
Days of the Week Alignment:
Days of the week fall behind Earth due to the longer Sol, but they also change when Friday is omitted at the end of a Quarter
337 Earth days were observed to elapse in the 2020 weekday cycle. There were 7 week day transitions and 2 Quarter ends.
The next cycle began on the first Sol of the period of coincidence. The alignment of weekdays interval is in the range: (310 - 337)
To find the first day of a period of coincidence: Set up: SearchTerm(colon) and (colon)Alignment and J0036* or J0037*
The most recent End-Of-Quarter change occurred: … The search specified above gave 11 pages of results.

For current weather on Mars see:

***https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/weather/***
***Insight's weather info has been suspended and now is directing to msl*** <<-- Insight's mission is over (2022)

https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/weather/

Per SpaceNut: Here is another web page by NASA containing the latest news releases

https://mars.nasa.gov/news/?page=0&per_ … ope=Latest

All forum members are invited to post significant events for this day.
Events of interest will be ON Mars, or relate to Mars. Examples are launches, landings, discoveries

Standard Month in Mars Business Calendar Copyright ® 2023 NewMars.com Mars Society
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1    2    3    4    5    6    7
8    9 10    11 12 13 14
15 16 17    18 19 20 21
22 23 24    25 26 27 28

Recruiting text may be found at the bottom of this post: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257

Month 12 of 24: This is the last month of the Second Quarter. (27 Sols)

tahanson43206 · 2023-12-03 07:10:05

===
Today on Mars: 0037/12/26 Thursday Days of the week offset 3 with Earth. (count from Mars to Earth (updated 2023/09/27))

Today on Earth: 2023/12/03 Sunday (Earth Date) Post Title: Today on Mars [Aphelion occurred May 30, 2023 Earth Calendar]
====*=

Per http://www-mars.lmd.jussieu.fr/mars/tim … _time.html also see: in-the-sky.org for opposition/perigee/aphelion

Martian Year: 37 Martian Astronomical Month in 12 month format: 6 <<== The Astronomical month will increment when longitude reaches 180 degrees

===
Solar Longitude: 157.8 Sol Number: 333 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037333
Solar Longitude: 157.3 Sol Number: 332 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037332
Solar Longitude: 156.8 Sol Number: 331 Change in degrees is +.6 Julian date is: J0037331
==#

Note that Solar Longitude measurement varies as a function of location in orbit. Ls 0 is the moment when the Sun appears to transit from one hemisphere to the other. Update from Mars.NASA.gov (The Sun crosses the equator of Mars (Vernal Equinox)). The transition itself is a function of the tilt of an object with respect to the Solar plane. Per squarewidget.com, Hipparchus created the celestial coordinate system we use today.

Note#2: https://theskylive.com/mars-tracker This web site shows the astronomical position of Mars as seen from Earth
Todo: At next Aphelion/Perihelion record the Mars data J00##### (and set Search term)
Perihelion occurred at Ls 251 on Sol 485 - Earth Date 2022/06/21 Next: (estimated) 2024/05/08
Perihelion occurred at Ls 253 on Sol 485 Earth Date 2020/08/03 Earlier: 2018/09/16, 2016/10/29
Aphelion occurred at--- Ls 071 on Sol 152. Aphelion Earth Dates: Earlier: 2017/10/07, 2015/11/20
Aphelion occurred near Ls 070 on Sol 153 (per www.planetary.org)

Note#3: The computations below are dependent upon both the computations provided by the reference web site and by accuracy of recording of the time of observations. The calculations use tenths of hours. The Sun Distance needs to be captured at the moment the time increments to a given tenth.

Note on data below: The figure quoted after distance is a rate of progress along the orbital path [exact meaning to be determined]
Minus prefix means Mars is approaching the Sun. Plus prefix means Mars is moving away from the Sun.
The figure computed to the right of "Difference" is the rate of change of the distance to Sun. Increasing to Aphelion/Decreasing to Perihelion.

===
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 227,030,702 km [24.2 km/s] Difference is -195102 <= -8129 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/03 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 227,225,804 km [24.2 km/s] Difference is -194958 <= -8123 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/02 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 227,420,762 km [24.2 km/s] Difference is -194868 <= -8120 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/01 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
====*===

Observation: The sky view is ** filled ** with objects and some have been recorded and given identification by humans or their robot assistants
And! ** All ** the location assignments are from the perspective of Earth. The entire catalog needs to be adjusted when inter-stellar travel begins
The work that lies ahead for the astronomical community is daunting - there is work ahead for centuries
2022/01/19 - All current (existing) stellar catalogs are computed with reference to the Earth. Another civilization would use it's planet as reference.
Perhaps a Milky Way frame of reference will become necessary at some point. The Earth is as good a Zero point as any, for humans.

=== Mars is in Regular Movement as seen from Earth. Mars is progressing from upper right to lower left in the view from Earth.
Next up: MicroBoomer at far left and above path: HIP 79910 RA 16h 18m 39.2s Day 0 -
Star TYC 6213-872-1 RA 16h 15m 47.4s At far left below path on Day 0 - Day 1 872 is under and past the 9 hours past marker
====*====*===

Zoom Out Capability As a general observation ... I've become increasingly interested in knowing what the larger view of the sky might be like.
The site: theskylive.com does a terrific job of matching the view from Earth towards Mars, against a background of actual astronomical plates.
I wish there were a way (or rather, I wish I ** knew ** about a way that may exist) to enlarge the view until the entire galaxy is in view (Zoom out)
Update 2022/12/08 TheSkyLive.com provides a large view of selected objects: Select [Major Bodies] Then select [Information] in the body of interest
Update 2022/12/08 Scroll down to (body) Position and Finder Charts. Field of view is 50x30 degrees.

Note: The curve of the path of Mars as seen against the background of stars is now a line heading left at a downward angle.
As of 2023/01/11, the curve of the path has returned to regular movement to the left border

Light travel time today is between 21 and 22 minutes. Communications delay would be 42+ minutes round trip.

===
Earth Distance 2023/12/03 373,704,194 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/12/02 374,029,772 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/12/01 374,321,718 (decreasing)
#>

Light travel in one second is (about) 300,000 kilometers. The distance covered in one minute is about 18,000,000 kilometers. Estimated light times:
1:18, 2:36, 3:54, 4:72, 5:90, 6:108, 7:126, 8:144,9:162,10:180,11:198,12:216,13:234,14:252,15:270,16:288,17:306,18:324,19:342,20:360,21:378,22:396

Mars and Earth are moving apart after Opposition. Maximum Earth-Mars is estimated to be 401 kilometers (both at apogee and opposite vs Sun)
Mars and Earth were in Opposition (Earth center) in December of 2022. The date coincided with a (very rare) occultation of Mars by the Moon.
Mars and Earth were in Conjunction (Sun center) in November of 2023.
Mars and Earth appear to have been as close as they will get in this cycle. 81,454,323 kilometers on J0036644 Time: 4.53 minutes - 9 minutes round trip

In his online interview with Dr. Zubrin at the 2020 Mars Conference, Elon Musk reminded the audience that communications with Mars will necessarily include an intermediary station to handle traffic when the Sun is between Mars and Earth. Communications delays in that circumstance will increase due to the extra distance to be covered. Mr. Musk indicated he expects such communication will be handled by laser. Location would be optimum at poles of solar plane.

Regular movement of Mars as seen from Earth resumed as of 2023/01/13. RA is once again increasing.
According to www.hercampus.com, Retrograde movement began October 30, 2022.
The online solar system display at the link below shows clearly how the Mars movement will occur in months ahead.

This web site offers an online model of the solar system: www.solarsystemscope.com It requires Chrome 57, Firefox 52 or Safari 10.1. Viewed 2022/10/13: Opposition will occur some time in December of 2022. Per earthsky.org, the date is December 8, 2022.

This web site offers an online orrery view of the Solar System: https://www.theplanetstoday.com/

===
Sol 333 is in Month 12 of a Proposed 24 month calendar. See Post 19 of Holidays topic for a summary.
Month 12 extends from Sol 308 through 334. <<== There are 27 days in Month 12. See post 82 of Holidays topic for current details.
Direct path to source: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257
Sol 333 is Thursday in the Proposed Business calendar for Mars.
##

The Next New Year's on Mars will occur when Solar Longitude reaches 360 degrees. <<== The current year on Mars is 37
Per www.planetary.org Year 36 started 2021/02/07 on Earth. Mars Year 37 began 2022/12/27 on Earth.

The last Skip Day occurred September 27, 2023 on Earth. A Skip Day occurs when the longer Mars Sol accumulates 24 Earth hours.
The next Skip day is expected November 2, 2023 (range 1 before >> 1 after) on Earth.

Count of days in current skip period: 39
Days of the Week Alignment:
Days of the week fall behind Earth due to the longer Sol, but they also change when Friday is omitted at the end of a Quarter
337 Earth days were observed to elapse in the 2020 weekday cycle. There were 7 week day transitions and 2 Quarter ends.
The next cycle began on the first Sol of the period of coincidence. The alignment of weekdays interval is in the range: (310 - 337)
To find the first day of a period of coincidence: Set up: SearchTerm(colon) and (colon)Alignment and J0036* or J0037*
The most recent End-Of-Quarter change occurred: … The search specified above gave 11 pages of results.

For current weather on Mars see:

***https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/weather/***
***Insight's weather info has been suspended and now is directing to msl*** <<-- Insight's mission is over (2022)

https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/weather/

Per SpaceNut: Here is another web page by NASA containing the latest news releases

https://mars.nasa.gov/news/?page=0&per_ … ope=Latest

All forum members are invited to post significant events for this day.
Events of interest will be ON Mars, or relate to Mars. Examples are launches, landings, discoveries

Standard Month in Mars Business Calendar Copyright ® 2023 NewMars.com Mars Society
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1    2    3    4    5    6    7
8    9 10    11 12 13 14
15 16 17    18 19 20 21
22 23 24    25 26 27 28

Recruiting text may be found at the bottom of this post: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257

Month 12 of 24: This is the last month of the Second Quarter. (27 Sols)

tahanson43206 · 2023-12-04 07:22:16

===
Today on Mars: 0037/12/28 Saturday Days of the week offset 2 with Earth. (count from Mars to Earth (updated 2023/12/04)) End of Quarter
One day note: We skipped Friday this week, because we've arrived at the end of the second quarter.
Today on Earth: 2023/12/04 Monday (Earth Date) Post Title: Today on Mars [Aphelion occurred May 30, 2023 Earth Calendar]
====*=

Per http://www-mars.lmd.jussieu.fr/mars/tim … _time.html also see: in-the-sky.org for opposition/perigee/aphelion

Martian Year: 37 Martian Astronomical Month in 12 month format: 6 <<== The Astronomical month will increment when longitude reaches 180 degrees

===
Solar Longitude: 158.3 Sol Number: 334 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037334
Solar Longitude: 157.8 Sol Number: 333 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037333
Solar Longitude: 157.3 Sol Number: 332 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037332
==#

Note that Solar Longitude measurement varies as a function of location in orbit. Ls 0 is the moment when the Sun appears to transit from one hemisphere to the other. Update from Mars.NASA.gov (The Sun crosses the equator of Mars (Vernal Equinox)). The transition itself is a function of the tilt of an object with respect to the Solar plane. Per squarewidget.com, Hipparchus created the celestial coordinate system we use today.

Note#2: https://theskylive.com/mars-tracker This web site shows the astronomical position of Mars as seen from Earth
Todo: At next Aphelion/Perihelion record the Mars data J00##### (and set Search term)
Perihelion occurred at Ls 251 on Sol 485 - Earth Date 2022/06/21 Next: (estimated) 2024/05/08
Perihelion occurred at Ls 253 on Sol 485 Earth Date 2020/08/03 Earlier: 2018/09/16, 2016/10/29
Aphelion occurred at--- Ls 071 on Sol 152. Aphelion Earth Dates: Earlier: 2017/10/07, 2015/11/20
Aphelion occurred near Ls 070 on Sol 153 (per www.planetary.org)

Note#3: The computations below are dependent upon both the computations provided by the reference web site and by accuracy of recording of the time of observations. The calculations use tenths of hours. The Sun Distance needs to be captured at the moment the time increments to a given tenth.

Note on data below: The figure quoted after distance is a rate of progress along the orbital path [exact meaning to be determined]
Minus prefix means Mars is approaching the Sun. Plus prefix means Mars is moving away from the Sun.
The figure computed to the right of "Difference" is the rate of change of the distance to Sun. Increasing to Aphelion/Decreasing to Perihelion.

===
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 226,835,576 km [24.2 km/s] Difference is -195126 <= -8130 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/04 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 227,030,702 km [24.2 km/s] Difference is -195102 <= -8129 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/03 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 227,225,804 km [24.2 km/s] Difference is -194958 <= -8123 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/02 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
====*===

Observation: The sky view is ** filled ** with objects and some have been recorded and given identification by humans or their robot assistants
And! ** All ** the location assignments are from the perspective of Earth. The entire catalog needs to be adjusted when inter-stellar travel begins
The work that lies ahead for the astronomical community is daunting - there is work ahead for centuries
2022/01/19 - All current (existing) stellar catalogs are computed with reference to the Earth. Another civilization would use it's planet as reference.
Perhaps a Milky Way frame of reference will become necessary at some point. The Earth is as good a Zero point as any, for humans.

=== Mars is in Regular Movement as seen from Earth. Mars is progressing from upper right to lower left in the view from Earth.
Next up: Stars below and above path at far left: Top TYC 6214-1295-1 RA 16h 22m 28.0s – Day 0
HIP 79910 RA 16h 18m 39.2s Day 0 – Day 1 at far right and about to disappear from view
====*====*===

Zoom Out Capability As a general observation ... I've become increasingly interested in knowing what the larger view of the sky might be like.
The site: theskylive.com does a terrific job of matching the view from Earth towards Mars, against a background of actual astronomical plates.
I wish there were a way (or rather, I wish I ** knew ** about a way that may exist) to enlarge the view until the entire galaxy is in view (Zoom out)
Update 2022/12/08 TheSkyLive.com provides a large view of selected objects: Select [Major Bodies] Then select [Information] in the body of interest
Update 2022/12/08 Scroll down to (body) Position and Finder Charts. Field of view is 50x30 degrees.

Note: The curve of the path of Mars as seen against the background of stars is now a line heading left at a downward angle.
As of 2023/01/11, the curve of the path has returned to regular movement to the left border

Light travel time today is between 21 and 22 minutes. Communications delay would be 42+ minutes round trip.

===
Earth Distance 2023/12/04 373,346,977 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/12/03 373,704,194 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/12/02 374,029,772 (decreasing)
#>

Light travel in one second is (about) 300,000 kilometers. The distance covered in one minute is about 18,000,000 kilometers. Estimated light times:
1:18, 2:36, 3:54, 4:72, 5:90, 6:108, 7:126, 8:144,9:162,10:180,11:198,12:216,13:234,14:252,15:270,16:288,17:306,18:324,19:342,20:360,21:378,22:396

Mars and Earth are moving apart after Opposition. Maximum Earth-Mars is estimated to be 401 kilometers (both at apogee and opposite vs Sun)
Mars and Earth were in Opposition (Earth center) in December of 2022. The date coincided with a (very rare) occultation of Mars by the Moon.
Mars and Earth were in Conjunction (Sun center) in November of 2023.
Mars and Earth appear to have been as close as they will get in this cycle. 81,454,323 kilometers on J0036644 Time: 4.53 minutes - 9 minutes round trip

In his online interview with Dr. Zubrin at the 2020 Mars Conference, Elon Musk reminded the audience that communications with Mars will necessarily include an intermediary station to handle traffic when the Sun is between Mars and Earth. Communications delays in that circumstance will increase due to the extra distance to be covered. Mr. Musk indicated he expects such communication will be handled by laser. Location would be optimum at poles of solar plane.

Regular movement of Mars as seen from Earth resumed as of 2023/01/13. RA is once again increasing.
According to www.hercampus.com, Retrograde movement began October 30, 2022.
The online solar system display at the link below shows clearly how the Mars movement will occur in months ahead.

This web site offers an online model of the solar system: www.solarsystemscope.com It requires Chrome 57, Firefox 52 or Safari 10.1. Viewed 2022/10/13: Opposition will occur some time in December of 2022. Per earthsky.org, the date is December 8, 2022.

This web site offers an online orrery view of the Solar System: https://www.theplanetstoday.com/

===
Sol 334 is in Month 12 of a Proposed 24 month calendar. See Post 19 of Holidays topic for a summary.
Month 12 extends from Sol 308 through 334. <<== There are 27 days in Month 12. See post 82 of Holidays topic for current details.
Direct path to source: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257
Sol 334 is Saturday in the Proposed Business calendar for Mars. << we skipped Friday because this is the last month of a quarter
##

The Next New Year's on Mars will occur when Solar Longitude reaches 360 degrees. <<== The current year on Mars is 37
Per www.planetary.org Year 36 started 2021/02/07 on Earth. Mars Year 37 began 2022/12/27 on Earth.

The last Skip Day occurred September 27, 2023 on Earth. A Skip Day occurs when the longer Mars Sol accumulates 24 Earth hours.
The next Skip day is expected November 2, 2023 (range 1 before >> 1 after) on Earth.

Count of days in current skip period: 39
Days of the Week Alignment:
Days of the week fall behind Earth due to the longer Sol, but they also change when Friday is omitted at the end of a Quarter
337 Earth days were observed to elapse in the 2020 weekday cycle. There were 7 week day transitions and 2 Quarter ends.
The next cycle began on the first Sol of the period of coincidence. The alignment of weekdays interval is in the range: (310 - 337)
To find the first day of a period of coincidence: Set up: SearchTerm(colon) and (colon)Alignment and J0036* or J0037*
The most recent End-Of-Quarter change occurred: … The search specified above gave 11 pages of results.

For current weather on Mars see:

***https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/weather/***
***Insight's weather info has been suspended and now is directing to msl*** <<-- Insight's mission is over (2022)

https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/weather/

Per SpaceNut: Here is another web page by NASA containing the latest news releases

https://mars.nasa.gov/news/?page=0&per_ … ope=Latest

All forum members are invited to post significant events for this day.
Events of interest will be ON Mars, or relate to Mars. Examples are launches, landings, discoveries

Standard Month in Mars Business Calendar Copyright ® 2023 NewMars.com Mars Society
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1    2    3    4    5    6    7
8    9 10    11 12 13 14
15 16 17    18 19 20 21
22 23 24    25 26 27 28

Recruiting text may be found at the bottom of this post: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257

Month 12 of 24: This is the last month of the Second Quarter. (27 Sols)

tahanson43206 · 2023-12-05 07:12:20

===
Today on Mars: 0037/13/01 Sunday Days of the week offset 2 with Earth. (count from Mars to Earth (updated 2023/12/04))
One day note: This is the first day of the Second half and of the 3rd Quarter, as well as of Month 13
Today on Earth: 2023/12/05 Tuesday (Earth Date) Post Title: Today on Mars [Aphelion occurred May 30, 2023 Earth Calendar]
====*=

Per http://www-mars.lmd.jussieu.fr/mars/tim … _time.html also see: in-the-sky.org for opposition/perigee/aphelion

Martian Year: 37 Martian Astronomical Month in 12 month format: 6 <<== The Astronomical month will increment when longitude reaches 180 degrees

===
Solar Longitude: 158.8 Sol Number: 335 Change in degrees is +.6 Julian date is: J0037335
Solar Longitude: 158.3 Sol Number: 334 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037334
Solar Longitude: 157.8 Sol Number: 333 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037333
==#

Note that Solar Longitude measurement varies as a function of location in orbit. Ls 0 is the moment when the Sun appears to transit from one hemisphere to the other. Update from Mars.NASA.gov (The Sun crosses the equator of Mars (Vernal Equinox)). The transition itself is a function of the tilt of an object with respect to the Solar plane. Per squarewidget.com, Hipparchus created the celestial coordinate system we use today.

Note#2: https://theskylive.com/mars-tracker This web site shows the astronomical position of Mars as seen from Earth
Todo: At next Aphelion/Perihelion record the Mars data J00##### (and set Search term)
Perihelion occurred at Ls 251 on Sol 485 - Earth Date 2022/06/21 Next: (estimated) 2024/05/08
Perihelion occurred at Ls 253 on Sol 485 Earth Date 2020/08/03 Earlier: 2018/09/16, 2016/10/29
Aphelion occurred at--- Ls 071 on Sol 152. Aphelion Earth Dates: Earlier: 2017/10/07, 2015/11/20
Aphelion occurred near Ls 070 on Sol 153 (per www.planetary.org)

Note#3: The computations below are dependent upon both the computations provided by the reference web site and by accuracy of recording of the time of observations. The calculations use tenths of hours. The Sun Distance needs to be captured at the moment the time increments to a given tenth.

Note on data below: The figure quoted after distance is a rate of progress along the orbital path [exact meaning to be determined]
Minus prefix means Mars is approaching the Sun. Plus prefix means Mars is moving away from the Sun.
The figure computed to the right of "Difference" is the rate of change of the distance to Sun. Increasing to Aphelion/Decreasing to Perihelion.

===
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 226,640,116 km [24.3 km/s] Difference is -195460 <= -8144 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/05 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 226,835,576 km [24.2 km/s] Difference is -195126 <= -8130 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/04 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 227,030,702 km [24.2 km/s] Difference is -195102 <= -8129 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/03 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
====*===

Observation: The sky view is ** filled ** with objects and some have been recorded and given identification by humans or their robot assistants
And! ** All ** the location assignments are from the perspective of Earth. The entire catalog needs to be adjusted when inter-stellar travel begins
The work that lies ahead for the astronomical community is daunting - there is work ahead for centuries
2022/01/19 - All current (existing) stellar catalogs are computed with reference to the Earth. Another civilization would use it's planet as reference.
Perhaps a Milky Way frame of reference will become necessary at some point. The Earth is as good a Zero point as any, for humans.

=== Mars is in Regular Movement as seen from Earth. Mars is progressing from upper right to lower left in the view from Earth.
Next up: MicroBoomer at far left and just above path: HIP 80440 RA 16h 25m 13.4s Day 0 -
TYC 6214-1295-1 RA 16h 22m 28.0s – Day 0 – Day 1 above 9 hours past marker
====*====*===

Zoom Out Capability As a general observation ... I've become increasingly interested in knowing what the larger view of the sky might be like.
The site: theskylive.com does a terrific job of matching the view from Earth towards Mars, against a background of actual astronomical plates.
I wish there were a way (or rather, I wish I ** knew ** about a way that may exist) to enlarge the view until the entire galaxy is in view (Zoom out)
Update 2022/12/08 TheSkyLive.com provides a large view of selected objects: Select [Major Bodies] Then select [Information] in the body of interest
Update 2022/12/08 Scroll down to (body) Position and Finder Charts. Field of view is 50x30 degrees.

Note: The curve of the path of Mars as seen against the background of stars is now a line heading left at a downward angle.
As of 2023/01/11, the curve of the path has returned to regular movement to the left border

Light travel time today is between 21 and 22 minutes. Communications delay would be 42+ minutes round trip.

===
Earth Distance 2023/12/05 373,076,666 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/12/04 373,346,977 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/12/03 373,704,194 (decreasing)
#>

Light travel in one second is (about) 300,000 kilometers. The distance covered in one minute is about 18,000,000 kilometers. Estimated light times:
1:18, 2:36, 3:54, 4:72, 5:90, 6:108, 7:126, 8:144,9:162,10:180,11:198,12:216,13:234,14:252,15:270,16:288,17:306,18:324,19:342,20:360,21:378,22:396

Mars and Earth are moving apart after Opposition. Maximum Earth-Mars is estimated to be 401 kilometers (both at apogee and opposite vs Sun)
Mars and Earth were in Opposition (Earth center) in December of 2022. The date coincided with a (very rare) occultation of Mars by the Moon.
Mars and Earth were in Conjunction (Sun center) in November of 2023.
Mars and Earth appear to have been as close as they will get in this cycle. 81,454,323 kilometers on J0036644 Time: 4.53 minutes - 9 minutes round trip

In his online interview with Dr. Zubrin at the 2020 Mars Conference, Elon Musk reminded the audience that communications with Mars will necessarily include an intermediary station to handle traffic when the Sun is between Mars and Earth. Communications delays in that circumstance will increase due to the extra distance to be covered. Mr. Musk indicated he expects such communication will be handled by laser. Location would be optimum at poles of solar plane.

Regular movement of Mars as seen from Earth resumed as of 2023/01/13. RA is once again increasing.
According to www.hercampus.com, Retrograde movement began October 30, 2022.
The online solar system display at the link below shows clearly how the Mars movement will occur in months ahead.

This web site offers an online model of the solar system: www.solarsystemscope.com It requires Chrome 57, Firefox 52 or Safari 10.1. Viewed 2022/10/13: Opposition will occur some time in December of 2022. Per earthsky.org, the date is December 8, 2022.

This web site offers an online orrery view of the Solar System: https://www.theplanetstoday.com/

===
Sol 335 is in Month 13 of a Proposed 24 month calendar. See Post 19 of Holidays topic for a summary.
Month 13 extends from Sol 335 through 362. <<== There are 28 days in Month 13. See post 82 of Holidays topic for current details.
Direct path to source: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257
Sol 335 is Sunday in the Proposed Business calendar for Mars.
##

The Next New Year's on Mars will occur when Solar Longitude reaches 360 degrees. <<== The current year on Mars is 37
Per www.planetary.org Year 36 started 2021/02/07 on Earth. Mars Year 37 began 2022/12/27 on Earth.

The last Skip Day occurred September 27, 2023 on Earth. A Skip Day occurs when the longer Mars Sol accumulates 24 Earth hours.
The next Skip day is expected November 2, 2023 (range 1 before >> 1 after) on Earth.

Count of days in current skip period: 39
Days of the Week Alignment:
Days of the week fall behind Earth due to the longer Sol, but they also change when Friday is omitted at the end of a Quarter
337 Earth days were observed to elapse in the 2020 weekday cycle. There were 7 week day transitions and 2 Quarter ends.
The next cycle began on the first Sol of the period of coincidence. The alignment of weekdays interval is in the range: (310 - 337)
To find the first day of a period of coincidence: Set up: SearchTerm(colon) and (colon)Alignment and J0036* or J0037*
The most recent End-Of-Quarter change occurred: … The search specified above gave 11 pages of results.

For current weather on Mars see:

***https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/weather/***
***Insight's weather info has been suspended and now is directing to msl*** <<-- Insight's mission is over (2022)

https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/weather/

Per SpaceNut: Here is another web page by NASA containing the latest news releases

https://mars.nasa.gov/news/?page=0&per_ … ope=Latest

All forum members are invited to post significant events for this day.
Events of interest will be ON Mars, or relate to Mars. Examples are launches, landings, discoveries

Standard Month in Mars Business Calendar Copyright ® 2023 NewMars.com Mars Society
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1    2    3    4    5    6    7
8    9 10    11 12 13 14
15 16 17    18 19 20 21
22 23 24    25 26 27 28

Recruiting text may be found at the bottom of this post: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257

Month 13 of 24: This is the first month of the 3rd Quarter and 2nd Half

tahanson43206 · 2023-12-05 07:16:01

For All.... Dr. Greg Stanley will be giving his monthly report on space activities since the last meeting of the North Houston NSS chapter.

It is highly likely he will attempt to provide the best information available on the recent Starship test.

The meeting is scheduled for this coming Saturday afternoon at 2 PM Eastern time, 3 PM New Hampshire time.

See the North Houston NSS topic for the Zoom link.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2023-12-06 07:16:07

===
Today on Mars: 0037/13/02 Monday Days of the week offset 2 with Earth. (count from Mars to Earth (updated 2023/12/04)) End of Quarter

Today on Earth: 2023/12/06 Wednesday (Earth Date) Post Title: Today on Mars [Aphelion occurred May 30, 2023 Earth Calendar]
====*=

Per http://www-mars.lmd.jussieu.fr/mars/tim … _time.html also see: in-the-sky.org for opposition/perigee/aphelion

Martian Year: 37 Martian Astronomical Month in 12 month format: 6 <<== The Astronomical month will increment when longitude reaches 180 degrees

===
Solar Longitude: 159.4 Sol Number: 336 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037336
Solar Longitude: 158.9 Sol Number: 335 Change in degrees is +.6 Julian date is: J0037335
Solar Longitude: 158.3 Sol Number: 334 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037334
==#

Note that Solar Longitude measurement varies as a function of location in orbit. Ls 0 is the moment when the Sun appears to transit from one hemisphere to the other. Update from Mars.NASA.gov (The Sun crosses the equator of Mars (Vernal Equinox)). The transition itself is a function of the tilt of an object with respect to the Solar plane. Per squarewidget.com, Hipparchus created the celestial coordinate system we use today.

Note#2: https://theskylive.com/mars-tracker This web site shows the astronomical position of Mars as seen from Earth
Todo: At next Aphelion/Perihelion record the Mars data J00##### (and set Search term)
Perihelion occurred at Ls 251 on Sol 485 - Earth Date 2022/06/21 Next: (estimated) 2024/05/08
Perihelion occurred at Ls 253 on Sol 485 Earth Date 2020/08/03 Earlier: 2018/09/16, 2016/10/29
Aphelion occurred at--- Ls 071 on Sol 152. Aphelion Earth Dates: Earlier: 2017/10/07, 2015/11/20
Aphelion occurred near Ls 070 on Sol 153 (per www.planetary.org)

Note#3: The computations below are dependent upon both the computations provided by the reference web site and by accuracy of recording of the time of observations. The calculations use tenths of hours. The Sun Distance needs to be captured at the moment the time increments to a given tenth.

Note on data below: The figure quoted after distance is a rate of progress along the orbital path [exact meaning to be determined]
Minus prefix means Mars is approaching the Sun. Plus prefix means Mars is moving away from the Sun.
The figure computed to the right of "Difference" is the rate of change of the distance to Sun. Increasing to Aphelion/Decreasing to Perihelion.

===
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 226,444,895 km [24.3 km/s] Difference is -195221 <= -8134 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/06 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 226,640,116 km [24.3 km/s] Difference is -195460 <= -8144 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/05 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 226,835,576 km [24.2 km/s] Difference is -195126 <= -8130 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/04 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
====*===

Observation: The sky view is ** filled ** with objects and some have been recorded and given identification by humans or their robot assistants
And! ** All ** the location assignments are from the perspective of Earth. The entire catalog needs to be adjusted when inter-stellar travel begins
The work that lies ahead for the astronomical community is daunting - there is work ahead for centuries
2022/01/19 - All current (existing) stellar catalogs are computed with reference to the Earth. Another civilization would use it's planet as reference.
Perhaps a Milky Way frame of reference will become necessary at some point. The Earth is as good a Zero point as any, for humans.

=== Mars is in Regular Movement as seen from Earth. Mars is progressing from upper right to lower left in the view from Earth.
Next up: Mini-Boomer below path and below 4.5 hours marker HIP 80587 RA 16h 27m 13.1s – Day 0 -
HIP 80440 RA 16h 25m 13.4s Day 0 – Day 1 right at (just past) 9 hours past marker
====*====*===

Zoom Out Capability As a general observation ... I've become increasingly interested in knowing what the larger view of the sky might be like.
The site: theskylive.com does a terrific job of matching the view from Earth towards Mars, against a background of actual astronomical plates.
I wish there were a way (or rather, I wish I ** knew ** about a way that may exist) to enlarge the view until the entire galaxy is in view (Zoom out)
Update 2022/12/08 TheSkyLive.com provides a large view of selected objects: Select [Major Bodies] Then select [Information] in the body of interest
Update 2022/12/08 Scroll down to (body) Position and Finder Charts. Field of view is 50x30 degrees.

Note: The curve of the path of Mars as seen against the background of stars is now a line heading left at a downward angle.
As of 2023/01/11, the curve of the path has returned to regular movement to the left border

Light travel time today is between 21 and 22 minutes. Communications delay would be 42+ minutes round trip.

===
Earth Distance 2023/12/06 372,726,666 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/12/05 373,076,666 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/12/04 373,346,977 (decreasing)
#>

Light travel in one second is (about) 300,000 kilometers. The distance covered in one minute is about 18,000,000 kilometers. Estimated light times:
1:18, 2:36, 3:54, 4:72, 5:90, 6:108, 7:126, 8:144,9:162,10:180,11:198,12:216,13:234,14:252,15:270,16:288,17:306,18:324,19:342,20:360,21:378,22:396

Mars and Earth are moving apart after Opposition. Maximum Earth-Mars is estimated to be 401 kilometers (both at apogee and opposite vs Sun)
Mars and Earth were in Opposition (Earth center) in December of 2022. The date coincided with a (very rare) occultation of Mars by the Moon.
Mars and Earth were in Conjunction (Sun center) in November of 2023.
Mars and Earth appear to have been as close as they will get in this cycle. 81,454,323 kilometers on J0036644 Time: 4.53 minutes - 9 minutes round trip

In his online interview with Dr. Zubrin at the 2020 Mars Conference, Elon Musk reminded the audience that communications with Mars will necessarily include an intermediary station to handle traffic when the Sun is between Mars and Earth. Communications delays in that circumstance will increase due to the extra distance to be covered. Mr. Musk indicated he expects such communication will be handled by laser. Location would be optimum at poles of solar plane.

Regular movement of Mars as seen from Earth resumed as of 2023/01/13. RA is once again increasing.
According to www.hercampus.com, Retrograde movement began October 30, 2022.
The online solar system display at the link below shows clearly how the Mars movement will occur in months ahead.

This web site offers an online model of the solar system: www.solarsystemscope.com It requires Chrome 57, Firefox 52 or Safari 10.1. Viewed 2022/10/13: Opposition will occur some time in December of 2022. Per earthsky.org, the date is December 8, 2022.

This web site offers an online orrery view of the Solar System: https://www.theplanetstoday.com/

===
Sol 336 is in Month 13 of a Proposed 24 month calendar. See Post 19 of Holidays topic for a summary.
Month 13 extends from Sol 335 through 362. <<== There are 28 days in Month 13. See post 82 of Holidays topic for current details.
Direct path to source: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257
Sol 336 is Monday in the Proposed Business calendar for Mars.
##

The Next New Year's on Mars will occur when Solar Longitude reaches 360 degrees. <<== The current year on Mars is 37
Per www.planetary.org Year 36 started 2021/02/07 on Earth. Mars Year 37 began 2022/12/27 on Earth.

The last Skip Day occurred September 27, 2023 on Earth. A Skip Day occurs when the longer Mars Sol accumulates 24 Earth hours.
The next Skip day is expected November 2, 2023 (range 1 before >> 1 after) on Earth.

Count of days in current skip period: 39
Days of the Week Alignment:
Days of the week fall behind Earth due to the longer Sol, but they also change when Friday is omitted at the end of a Quarter
337 Earth days were observed to elapse in the 2020 weekday cycle. There were 7 week day transitions and 2 Quarter ends.
The next cycle began on the first Sol of the period of coincidence. The alignment of weekdays interval is in the range: (310 - 337)
To find the first day of a period of coincidence: Set up: SearchTerm(colon) and (colon)Alignment and J0036* or J0037*
The most recent End-Of-Quarter change occurred: … The search specified above gave 11 pages of results.

For current weather on Mars see:

***https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/weather/***
***Insight's weather info has been suspended and now is directing to msl*** <<-- Insight's mission is over (2022)

https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/weather/

Per SpaceNut: Here is another web page by NASA containing the latest news releases

https://mars.nasa.gov/news/?page=0&per_ … ope=Latest

All forum members are invited to post significant events for this day.
Events of interest will be ON Mars, or relate to Mars. Examples are launches, landings, discoveries

Standard Month in Mars Business Calendar Copyright ® 2023 NewMars.com Mars Society
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1    2    3    4    5    6    7
8    9 10    11 12 13 14
15 16 17    18 19 20 21
22 23 24    25 26 27 28

Recruiting text may be found at the bottom of this post: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257

Month 13 of 24: This is the first month of the 3rd Quarter and 2nd Half

tahanson43206 · 2023-12-07 07:19:14

===
Today on Mars: 0037/13/03 Tuesday Days of the week offset 2 with Earth. (count from Mars to Earth (updated 2023/12/04)) End of Quarter

Today on Earth: 2023/12/07 Thursday (Earth Date) Post Title: Today on Mars [Aphelion occurred May 30, 2023 Earth Calendar]
====*=

Per http://www-mars.lmd.jussieu.fr/mars/tim … _time.html also see: in-the-sky.org for opposition/perigee/aphelion

Martian Year: 37 Martian Astronomical Month in 12 month format: 6 <<== The Astronomical month will increment when longitude reaches 180 degrees

===
Solar Longitude: 159.9 Sol Number: 337 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037337
Solar Longitude: 159.4 Sol Number: 336 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037336
Solar Longitude: 158.9 Sol Number: 335 Change in degrees is +.6 Julian date is: J0037335
==#

Note that Solar Longitude measurement varies as a function of location in orbit. Ls 0 is the moment when the Sun appears to transit from one hemisphere to the other. Update from Mars.NASA.gov (The Sun crosses the equator of Mars (Vernal Equinox)). The transition itself is a function of the tilt of an object with respect to the Solar plane. Per squarewidget.com, Hipparchus created the celestial coordinate system we use today.

Note#2: https://theskylive.com/mars-tracker This web site shows the astronomical position of Mars as seen from Earth
Todo: At next Aphelion/Perihelion record the Mars data J00##### (and set Search term)
Perihelion occurred at Ls 251 on Sol 485 - Earth Date 2022/06/21 Next: (estimated) 2024/05/08
Perihelion occurred at Ls 253 on Sol 485 Earth Date 2020/08/03 Earlier: 2018/09/16, 2016/10/29
Aphelion occurred at--- Ls 071 on Sol 152. Aphelion Earth Dates: Earlier: 2017/10/07, 2015/11/20
Aphelion occurred near Ls 070 on Sol 153 (per www.planetary.org)

Note#3: The computations below are dependent upon both the computations provided by the reference web site and by accuracy of recording of the time of observations. The calculations use tenths of hours. The Sun Distance needs to be captured at the moment the time increments to a given tenth.

Note on data below: The figure quoted after distance is a rate of progress along the orbital path [exact meaning to be determined]
Minus prefix means Mars is approaching the Sun. Plus prefix means Mars is moving away from the Sun.
The figure computed to the right of "Difference" is the rate of change of the distance to Sun. Increasing to Aphelion/Decreasing to Perihelion.

===
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 226,249,644 km [24.3 km/s] Difference is -195251 <= -8135 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/07 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 226,444,895 km [24.3 km/s] Difference is -195221 <= -8134 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/06 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 226,640,116 km [24.3 km/s] Difference is -195460 <= -8144 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/05 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
====*===

Observation: The sky view is ** filled ** with objects and some have been recorded and given identification by humans or their robot assistants
And! ** All ** the location assignments are from the perspective of Earth. The entire catalog needs to be adjusted when inter-stellar travel begins
The work that lies ahead for the astronomical community is daunting - there is work ahead for centuries
2022/01/19 - All current (existing) stellar catalogs are computed with reference to the Earth. Another civilization would use it's planet as reference.
Perhaps a Milky Way frame of reference will become necessary at some point. The Earth is as good a Zero point as any, for humans.

=== Mars is in Regular Movement as seen from Earth. Mars is progressing from upper right to lower left in the view from Earth.
Next up: Trio of stars above path TYC 6215-182-1 RA 16h 31m 44.8s at far left on Day 0 -
HIP 80587 RA 16h 27m 13.1s – Day 0 – Day 1 out of view
====*====*===

Zoom Out Capability As a general observation ... I've become increasingly interested in knowing what the larger view of the sky might be like.
The site: theskylive.com does a terrific job of matching the view from Earth towards Mars, against a background of actual astronomical plates.
I wish there were a way (or rather, I wish I ** knew ** about a way that may exist) to enlarge the view until the entire galaxy is in view (Zoom out)
Update 2022/12/08 TheSkyLive.com provides a large view of selected objects: Select [Major Bodies] Then select [Information] in the body of interest
Update 2022/12/08 Scroll down to (body) Position and Finder Charts. Field of view is 50x30 degrees.

Note: The curve of the path of Mars as seen against the background of stars is now a line heading left at a downward angle.
As of 2023/01/11, the curve of the path has returned to regular movement to the left border

Light travel time today is between 21 and 22 minutes. Communications delay would be 42+ minutes round trip.

===
Earth Distance 2023/12/07 372,381,111 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/12/06 372,726,666 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/12/05 373,076,666 (decreasing)
#>

Light travel in one second is (about) 300,000 kilometers. The distance covered in one minute is about 18,000,000 kilometers. Estimated light times:
1:18, 2:36, 3:54, 4:72, 5:90, 6:108, 7:126, 8:144,9:162,10:180,11:198,12:216,13:234,14:252,15:270,16:288,17:306,18:324,19:342,20:360,21:378,22:396

Mars and Earth are moving apart after Opposition. Maximum Earth-Mars is estimated to be 401 kilometers (both at apogee and opposite vs Sun)
Mars and Earth were in Opposition (Earth center) in December of 2022. The date coincided with a (very rare) occultation of Mars by the Moon.
Mars and Earth were in Conjunction (Sun center) in November of 2023.
Mars and Earth appear to have been as close as they will get in this cycle. 81,454,323 kilometers on J0036644 Time: 4.53 minutes - 9 minutes round trip

In his online interview with Dr. Zubrin at the 2020 Mars Conference, Elon Musk reminded the audience that communications with Mars will necessarily include an intermediary station to handle traffic when the Sun is between Mars and Earth. Communications delays in that circumstance will increase due to the extra distance to be covered. Mr. Musk indicated he expects such communication will be handled by laser. Location would be optimum at poles of solar plane.

Regular movement of Mars as seen from Earth resumed as of 2023/01/13. RA is once again increasing.
According to www.hercampus.com, Retrograde movement began October 30, 2022.
The online solar system display at the link below shows clearly how the Mars movement will occur in months ahead.

This web site offers an online model of the solar system: www.solarsystemscope.com It requires Chrome 57, Firefox 52 or Safari 10.1. Viewed 2022/10/13: Opposition will occur some time in December of 2022. Per earthsky.org, the date is December 8, 2022.

This web site offers an online orrery view of the Solar System: https://www.theplanetstoday.com/

===
Sol 337 is in Month 13 of a Proposed 24 month calendar. See Post 19 of Holidays topic for a summary.
Month 13 extends from Sol 335 through 362. <<== There are 28 days in Month 13. See post 82 of Holidays topic for current details.
Direct path to source: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257
Sol 337 is Tuesday in the Proposed Business calendar for Mars.
##

The Next New Year's on Mars will occur when Solar Longitude reaches 360 degrees. <<== The current year on Mars is 37
Per www.planetary.org Year 36 started 2021/02/07 on Earth. Mars Year 37 began 2022/12/27 on Earth.

The last Skip Day occurred September 27, 2023 on Earth. A Skip Day occurs when the longer Mars Sol accumulates 24 Earth hours.
The next Skip day is expected November 2, 2023 (range 1 before >> 1 after) on Earth.

Count of days in current skip period: 39
Days of the Week Alignment:
Days of the week fall behind Earth due to the longer Sol, but they also change when Friday is omitted at the end of a Quarter
337 Earth days were observed to elapse in the 2020 weekday cycle. There were 7 week day transitions and 2 Quarter ends.
The next cycle began on the first Sol of the period of coincidence. The alignment of weekdays interval is in the range: (310 - 337)
To find the first day of a period of coincidence: Set up: SearchTerm(colon) and (colon)Alignment and J0036* or J0037*
The most recent End-Of-Quarter change occurred: … The search specified above gave 11 pages of results.

For current weather on Mars see:

***https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/weather/***
***Insight's weather info has been suspended and now is directing to msl*** <<-- Insight's mission is over (2022)

https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/weather/

Per SpaceNut: Here is another web page by NASA containing the latest news releases

https://mars.nasa.gov/news/?page=0&per_ … ope=Latest

All forum members are invited to post significant events for this day.
Events of interest will be ON Mars, or relate to Mars. Examples are launches, landings, discoveries

Standard Month in Mars Business Calendar Copyright ® 2023 NewMars.com Mars Society
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1    2    3    4    5    6    7
8    9 10    11 12 13 14
15 16 17    18 19 20 21
22 23 24    25 26 27 28

Recruiting text may be found at the bottom of this post: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257

Month 13 of 24: This is the first month of the 3rd Quarter and 2nd Half

tahanson43206 · 2023-12-08 07:14:09

===
Today on Mars: 0037/13/04 Wednesday Days of the week offset 2 with Earth. (count from Mars to Earth (updated 2023/12/04)) End of Quarter

Today on Earth: 2023/12/08 Friday (Earth Date) Post Title: Today on Mars [Aphelion occurred May 30, 2023 Earth Calendar]
====*=

Per http://www-mars.lmd.jussieu.fr/mars/tim … _time.html also see: in-the-sky.org for opposition/perigee/aphelion

Martian Year: 37 Martian Astronomical Month in 12 month format: 6 <<== The Astronomical month will increment when longitude reaches 180 degrees

===
Solar Longitude: 160.4 Sol Number: 338 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037338
Solar Longitude: 159.9 Sol Number: 337 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037337
Solar Longitude: 159.4 Sol Number: 336 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037336
==#

Note that Solar Longitude measurement varies as a function of location in orbit. Ls 0 is the moment when the Sun appears to transit from one hemisphere to the other. Update from Mars.NASA.gov (The Sun crosses the equator of Mars (Vernal Equinox)). The transition itself is a function of the tilt of an object with respect to the Solar plane. Per squarewidget.com, Hipparchus created the celestial coordinate system we use today.

Note#2: https://theskylive.com/mars-tracker This web site shows the astronomical position of Mars as seen from Earth
Todo: At next Aphelion/Perihelion record the Mars data J00##### (and set Search term)
Perihelion occurred at Ls 251 on Sol 485 - Earth Date 2022/06/21 Next: (estimated) 2024/05/08
Perihelion occurred at Ls 253 on Sol 485 Earth Date 2020/08/03 Earlier: 2018/09/16, 2016/10/29
Aphelion occurred at--- Ls 071 on Sol 152. Aphelion Earth Dates: Earlier: 2017/10/07, 2015/11/20
Aphelion occurred near Ls 070 on Sol 153 (per www.planetary.org)

Note#3: The computations below are dependent upon both the computations provided by the reference web site and by accuracy of recording of the time of observations. The calculations use tenths of hours. The Sun Distance needs to be captured at the moment the time increments to a given tenth.

Note on data below: The figure quoted after distance is a rate of progress along the orbital path [exact meaning to be determined]
Minus prefix means Mars is approaching the Sun. Plus prefix means Mars is moving away from the Sun.
The figure computed to the right of "Difference" is the rate of change of the distance to Sun. Increasing to Aphelion/Decreasing to Perihelion.

===
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 226,054,173 km [24.3 km/s] Difference is -195471 <= -8144 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/08 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 226,249,644 km [24.3 km/s] Difference is -195251 <= -8135 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/07 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 226,444,895 km [24.3 km/s] Difference is -195221 <= -8134 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/06 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
====*===

Observation: The sky view is ** filled ** with objects and some have been recorded and given identification by humans or their robot assistants
And! ** All ** the location assignments are from the perspective of Earth. The entire catalog needs to be adjusted when inter-stellar travel begins
The work that lies ahead for the astronomical community is daunting - there is work ahead for centuries
2022/01/19 - All current (existing) stellar catalogs are computed with reference to the Earth. Another civilization would use it's planet as reference.
Perhaps a Milky Way frame of reference will become necessary at some point. The Earth is as good a Zero point as any, for humans.

=== Mars is in Regular Movement as seen from Earth. Mars is progressing from upper right to lower left in the view from Earth.
Next up: Star well above path TYC 6228-1091-1 RA 16h 34m 28.1s at far left on Day 0 -
TYC 6215-182-1 RA 16h 31m 44.8s at far left on Day 0 – Day 1 above the 9 hours past marker – last day for this trio
====*====*===

Zoom Out Capability As a general observation ... I've become increasingly interested in knowing what the larger view of the sky might be like.
The site: theskylive.com does a terrific job of matching the view from Earth towards Mars, against a background of actual astronomical plates.
I wish there were a way (or rather, I wish I ** knew ** about a way that may exist) to enlarge the view until the entire galaxy is in view (Zoom out)
Update 2022/12/08 TheSkyLive.com provides a large view of selected objects: Select [Major Bodies] Then select [Information] in the body of interest
Update 2022/12/08 Scroll down to (body) Position and Finder Charts. Field of view is 50x30 degrees.

Note: The curve of the path of Mars as seen against the background of stars is now a line heading left at a downward angle.
As of 2023/01/11, the curve of the path has returned to regular movement to the left border

Light travel time today is between 21 and 22 minutes. Communications delay would be 42+ minutes round trip.

===
Earth Distance 2023/12/08 372,042,669 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/12/07 372,381,111 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/12/06 372,726,666 (decreasing)
#>

Light travel in one second is (about) 300,000 kilometers. The distance covered in one minute is about 18,000,000 kilometers. Estimated light times:
1:18, 2:36, 3:54, 4:72, 5:90, 6:108, 7:126, 8:144,9:162,10:180,11:198,12:216,13:234,14:252,15:270,16:288,17:306,18:324,19:342,20:360,21:378,22:396

Mars and Earth are moving apart after Opposition. Maximum Earth-Mars is estimated to be 401 kilometers (both at apogee and opposite vs Sun)
Mars and Earth were in Opposition (Earth center) in December of 2022. The date coincided with a (very rare) occultation of Mars by the Moon.
Mars and Earth were in Conjunction (Sun center) in November of 2023.
Mars and Earth appear to have been as close as they will get in this cycle. 81,454,323 kilometers on J0036644 Time: 4.53 minutes - 9 minutes round trip

In his online interview with Dr. Zubrin at the 2020 Mars Conference, Elon Musk reminded the audience that communications with Mars will necessarily include an intermediary station to handle traffic when the Sun is between Mars and Earth. Communications delays in that circumstance will increase due to the extra distance to be covered. Mr. Musk indicated he expects such communication will be handled by laser. Location would be optimum at poles of solar plane.

Regular movement of Mars as seen from Earth resumed as of 2023/01/13. RA is once again increasing.
According to www.hercampus.com, Retrograde movement began October 30, 2022.
The online solar system display at the link below shows clearly how the Mars movement will occur in months ahead.

This web site offers an online model of the solar system: www.solarsystemscope.com It requires Chrome 57, Firefox 52 or Safari 10.1. Viewed 2022/10/13: Opposition will occur some time in December of 2022. Per earthsky.org, the date is December 8, 2022.

This web site offers an online orrery view of the Solar System: https://www.theplanetstoday.com/

===
Sol 338 is in Month 13 of a Proposed 24 month calendar. See Post 19 of Holidays topic for a summary.
Month 13 extends from Sol 335 through 362. <<== There are 28 days in Month 13. See post 82 of Holidays topic for current details.
Direct path to source: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257
Sol 338 is Wednesday in the Proposed Business calendar for Mars.
##

The Next New Year's on Mars will occur when Solar Longitude reaches 360 degrees. <<== The current year on Mars is 37
Per www.planetary.org Year 36 started 2021/02/07 on Earth. Mars Year 37 began 2022/12/27 on Earth.

The last Skip Day occurred September 27, 2023 on Earth. A Skip Day occurs when the longer Mars Sol accumulates 24 Earth hours.
The next Skip day is expected November 2, 2023 (range 1 before >> 1 after) on Earth.

Count of days in current skip period: 39
Days of the Week Alignment:
Days of the week fall behind Earth due to the longer Sol, but they also change when Friday is omitted at the end of a Quarter
337 Earth days were observed to elapse in the 2020 weekday cycle. There were 7 week day transitions and 2 Quarter ends.
The next cycle began on the first Sol of the period of coincidence. The alignment of weekdays interval is in the range: (310 - 337)
To find the first day of a period of coincidence: Set up: SearchTerm(colon) and (colon)Alignment and J0036* or J0037*
The most recent End-Of-Quarter change occurred: … The search specified above gave 11 pages of results.

For current weather on Mars see:

***https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/weather/***
***Insight's weather info has been suspended and now is directing to msl*** <<-- Insight's mission is over (2022)

https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/weather/

Per SpaceNut: Here is another web page by NASA containing the latest news releases

https://mars.nasa.gov/news/?page=0&per_ … ope=Latest

All forum members are invited to post significant events for this day.
Events of interest will be ON Mars, or relate to Mars. Examples are launches, landings, discoveries

Standard Month in Mars Business Calendar Copyright ® 2023 NewMars.com Mars Society
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1    2    3    4    5    6    7
8    9 10    11 12 13 14
15 16 17    18 19 20 21
22 23 24    25 26 27 28

Recruiting text may be found at the bottom of this post: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257

Month 13 of 24: This is the first month of the 3rd Quarter and 2nd Half

tahanson43206 · 2023-12-09 07:04:57

===
Today on Mars: 0037/13/05 Thursday Days of the week offset 2 with Earth. (count from Mars to Earth (updated 2023/12/04)) End of Quarter

Today on Earth: 2023/12/09 Saturday (Earth Date) Post Title: Today on Mars [Aphelion occurred May 30, 2023 Earth Calendar]
====*=

Per http://www-mars.lmd.jussieu.fr/mars/tim … _time.html also see: in-the-sky.org for opposition/perigee/aphelion

Martian Year: 37 Martian Astronomical Month in 12 month format: 6 <<== The Astronomical month will increment when longitude reaches 180 degrees

===
Solar Longitude: 161.0 Sol Number: 339 Change in degrees is +.6 Julian date is: J0037339
Solar Longitude: 160.4 Sol Number: 338 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037338
Solar Longitude: 159.9 Sol Number: 337 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037337
==#

Note that Solar Longitude measurement varies as a function of location in orbit. Ls 0 is the moment when the Sun appears to transit from one hemisphere to the other. Update from Mars.NASA.gov (The Sun crosses the equator of Mars (Vernal Equinox)). The transition itself is a function of the tilt of an object with respect to the Solar plane. Per squarewidget.com, Hipparchus created the celestial coordinate system we use today.

Note#2: https://theskylive.com/mars-tracker This web site shows the astronomical position of Mars as seen from Earth
Todo: At next Aphelion/Perihelion record the Mars data J00##### (and set Search term)
Perihelion occurred at Ls 251 on Sol 485 - Earth Date 2022/06/21 Next: (estimated) 2024/05/08
Perihelion occurred at Ls 253 on Sol 485 Earth Date 2020/08/03 Earlier: 2018/09/16, 2016/10/29
Aphelion occurred at--- Ls 071 on Sol 152. Aphelion Earth Dates: Earlier: 2017/10/07, 2015/11/20
Aphelion occurred near Ls 070 on Sol 153 (per www.planetary.org)

Note#3: The computations below are dependent upon both the computations provided by the reference web site and by accuracy of recording of the time of observations. The calculations use tenths of hours. The Sun Distance needs to be captured at the moment the time increments to a given tenth.

Note on data below: The figure quoted after distance is a rate of progress along the orbital path [exact meaning to be determined]
Minus prefix means Mars is approaching the Sun. Plus prefix means Mars is moving away from the Sun.
The figure computed to the right of "Difference" is the rate of change of the distance to Sun. Increasing to Aphelion/Decreasing to Perihelion.

===
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 225,858,954 km [24.4 km/s] Difference is -195219 <= -8134 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/09 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 226,054,173 km [24.3 km/s] Difference is -195471 <= -8144 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/08 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 226,249,644 km [24.3 km/s] Difference is -195251 <= -8135 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/07 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
====*===

Observation: The sky view is ** filled ** with objects and some have been recorded and given identification by humans or their robot assistants
And! ** All ** the location assignments are from the perspective of Earth. The entire catalog needs to be adjusted when inter-stellar travel begins
The work that lies ahead for the astronomical community is daunting - there is work ahead for centuries
2022/01/19 - All current (existing) stellar catalogs are computed with reference to the Earth. Another civilization would use it's planet as reference.
Perhaps a Milky Way frame of reference will become necessary at some point. The Earth is as good a Zero point as any, for humans.

=== Mars is in Regular Movement as seen from Earth. Mars is progressing from upper right to lower left in the view from Earth.
Next up: Star below path TYC 6228-1455-1 RA 16h 37m 22.1s at far left on Day 0 -
TYC 6228-1091-1 RA 16h 34m 28.1s at far left on Day 0 – Day 1 past 9 hours past marker – last day for 1091
====*====*===

Zoom Out Capability As a general observation ... I've become increasingly interested in knowing what the larger view of the sky might be like.
The site: theskylive.com does a terrific job of matching the view from Earth towards Mars, against a background of actual astronomical plates.
I wish there were a way (or rather, I wish I ** knew ** about a way that may exist) to enlarge the view until the entire galaxy is in view (Zoom out)
Update 2022/12/08 TheSkyLive.com provides a large view of selected objects: Select [Major Bodies] Then select [Information] in the body of interest
Update 2022/12/08 Scroll down to (body) Position and Finder Charts. Field of view is 50x30 degrees.

Note: The curve of the path of Mars as seen against the background of stars is now a line heading left at a downward angle.
As of 2023/01/11, the curve of the path has returned to regular movement to the left border

Light travel time today is between 21 and 22 minutes. Communications delay would be 42+ minutes round trip.

===
Earth Distance 2023/12/09 371,688,529 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/12/08 372,042,669 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/12/07 372,381,111 (decreasing)
#>

Light travel in one second is (about) 300,000 kilometers. The distance covered in one minute is about 18,000,000 kilometers. Estimated light times:
1:18, 2:36, 3:54, 4:72, 5:90, 6:108, 7:126, 8:144,9:162,10:180,11:198,12:216,13:234,14:252,15:270,16:288,17:306,18:324,19:342,20:360,21:378,22:396

Mars and Earth are moving apart after Opposition. Maximum Earth-Mars is estimated to be 401 kilometers (both at apogee and opposite vs Sun)
Mars and Earth were in Opposition (Earth center) in December of 2022. The date coincided with a (very rare) occultation of Mars by the Moon.
Mars and Earth were in Conjunction (Sun center) in November of 2023.
Mars and Earth appear to have been as close as they will get in this cycle. 81,454,323 kilometers on J0036644 Time: 4.53 minutes - 9 minutes round trip

In his online interview with Dr. Zubrin at the 2020 Mars Conference, Elon Musk reminded the audience that communications with Mars will necessarily include an intermediary station to handle traffic when the Sun is between Mars and Earth. Communications delays in that circumstance will increase due to the extra distance to be covered. Mr. Musk indicated he expects such communication will be handled by laser. Location would be optimum at poles of solar plane.

Regular movement of Mars as seen from Earth resumed as of 2023/01/13. RA is once again increasing.
According to www.hercampus.com, Retrograde movement began October 30, 2022.
The online solar system display at the link below shows clearly how the Mars movement will occur in months ahead.

This web site offers an online model of the solar system: www.solarsystemscope.com It requires Chrome 57, Firefox 52 or Safari 10.1. Viewed 2022/10/13: Opposition will occur some time in December of 2022. Per earthsky.org, the date is December 8, 2022.

This web site offers an online orrery view of the Solar System: https://www.theplanetstoday.com/

===
Sol 339 is in Month 13 of a Proposed 24 month calendar. See Post 19 of Holidays topic for a summary.
Month 13 extends from Sol 335 through 362. <<== There are 28 days in Month 13. See post 82 of Holidays topic for current details.
Direct path to source: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257
Sol 339 is Thursday in the Proposed Business calendar for Mars.
##

The Next New Year's on Mars will occur when Solar Longitude reaches 360 degrees. <<== The current year on Mars is 37
Per www.planetary.org Year 36 started 2021/02/07 on Earth. Mars Year 37 began 2022/12/27 on Earth.

The last Skip Day occurred September 27, 2023 on Earth. A Skip Day occurs when the longer Mars Sol accumulates 24 Earth hours.
The next Skip day is expected November 2, 2023 (range 1 before >> 1 after) on Earth.

Count of days in current skip period: 39
Days of the Week Alignment:
Days of the week fall behind Earth due to the longer Sol, but they also change when Friday is omitted at the end of a Quarter
337 Earth days were observed to elapse in the 2020 weekday cycle. There were 7 week day transitions and 2 Quarter ends.
The next cycle began on the first Sol of the period of coincidence. The alignment of weekdays interval is in the range: (310 - 337)
To find the first day of a period of coincidence: Set up: SearchTerm(colon) and (colon)Alignment and J0036* or J0037*
The most recent End-Of-Quarter change occurred: … The search specified above gave 11 pages of results.

For current weather on Mars see:

***https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/weather/***
***Insight's weather info has been suspended and now is directing to msl*** <<-- Insight's mission is over (2022)

https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/weather/

Per SpaceNut: Here is another web page by NASA containing the latest news releases

https://mars.nasa.gov/news/?page=0&per_ … ope=Latest

All forum members are invited to post significant events for this day.
Events of interest will be ON Mars, or relate to Mars. Examples are launches, landings, discoveries

Standard Month in Mars Business Calendar Copyright ® 2023 NewMars.com Mars Society
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1    2    3    4    5    6    7
8    9 10    11 12 13 14
15 16 17    18 19 20 21
22 23 24    25 26 27 28

Recruiting text may be found at the bottom of this post: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257

Month 13 of 24: This is the first month of the 3rd Quarter and 2nd Half

tahanson43206 · 2023-12-10 07:09:04

===
Today on Mars: 0037/13/05 Thursday Days of the week offset 3 with Earth. (count from Mars to Earth (updated 2023/12/04)) Skip Day
One day note: Today is Skip Day on Mars – Days offset will increase by 1
Today on Earth: 2023/12/10 Sunday (Earth Date) Post Title: Today on Mars [Aphelion occurred May 30, 2023 Earth Calendar]
====*=

Per http://www-mars.lmd.jussieu.fr/mars/tim … _time.html also see: in-the-sky.org for opposition/perigee/aphelion

Martian Year: 37 Martian Astronomical Month in 12 month format: 6 <<== The Astronomical month will increment when longitude reaches 180 degrees

===
Solar Longitude: 161.5 Sol Number: 339 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037339 << Skip Day on Mars
Solar Longitude: 161.0 Sol Number: 339 Change in degrees is +.6 Julian date is: J0037339
Solar Longitude: 160.4 Sol Number: 338 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037338
==#

Note that Solar Longitude measurement varies as a function of location in orbit. Ls 0 is the moment when the Sun appears to transit from one hemisphere to the other. Update from Mars.NASA.gov (The Sun crosses the equator of Mars (Vernal Equinox)). The transition itself is a function of the tilt of an object with respect to the Solar plane. Per squarewidget.com, Hipparchus created the celestial coordinate system we use today.

Note#2: https://theskylive.com/mars-tracker This web site shows the astronomical position of Mars as seen from Earth
Todo: At next Aphelion/Perihelion record the Mars data J00##### (and set Search term)
Perihelion occurred at Ls 251 on Sol 485 - Earth Date 2022/06/21 Next: (estimated) 2024/05/08
Perihelion occurred at Ls 253 on Sol 485 Earth Date 2020/08/03 Earlier: 2018/09/16, 2016/10/29
Aphelion occurred at--- Ls 071 on Sol 152. Aphelion Earth Dates: Earlier: 2017/10/07, 2015/11/20
Aphelion occurred near Ls 070 on Sol 153 (per www.planetary.org)

Note#3: The computations below are dependent upon both the computations provided by the reference web site and by accuracy of recording of the time of observations. The calculations use tenths of hours. The Sun Distance needs to be captured at the moment the time increments to a given tenth.

Note on data below: The figure quoted after distance is a rate of progress along the orbital path [exact meaning to be determined]
Minus prefix means Mars is approaching the Sun. Plus prefix means Mars is moving away from the Sun.
The figure computed to the right of "Difference" is the rate of change of the distance to Sun. Increasing to Aphelion/Decreasing to Perihelion.

===
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 225,663,624 km [24.4 km/s] Difference is -195330 <= -8139 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/10 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 225,858,954 km [24.4 km/s] Difference is -195219 <= -8134 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/09 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 226,054,173 km [24.3 km/s] Difference is -195471 <= -8144 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/08 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
====*===

Observation: The sky view is ** filled ** with objects and some have been recorded and given identification by humans or their robot assistants
And! ** All ** the location assignments are from the perspective of Earth. The entire catalog needs to be adjusted when inter-stellar travel begins
The work that lies ahead for the astronomical community is daunting - there is work ahead for centuries
2022/01/19 - All current (existing) stellar catalogs are computed with reference to the Earth. Another civilization would use it's planet as reference.
Perhaps a Milky Way frame of reference will become necessary at some point. The Earth is as good a Zero point as any, for humans.

=== Mars is in Regular Movement as seen from Earth. Mars is progressing from upper right to lower left in the view from Earth.
Next up: Star below path at far left: TYC 6796-987-1 RA 16h 40m 12.1s – Day 0 -
TYC 6228-1455-1 RA 16h 37m 22.1s at far left on Day 0 – Day 1 past and below 9 hours marker – last day for 1455
====*====*===

Zoom Out Capability As a general observation ... I've become increasingly interested in knowing what the larger view of the sky might be like.
The site: theskylive.com does a terrific job of matching the view from Earth towards Mars, against a background of actual astronomical plates.
I wish there were a way (or rather, I wish I ** knew ** about a way that may exist) to enlarge the view until the entire galaxy is in view (Zoom out)
Update 2022/12/08 TheSkyLive.com provides a large view of selected objects: Select [Major Bodies] Then select [Information] in the body of interest
Update 2022/12/08 Scroll down to (body) Position and Finder Charts. Field of view is 50x30 degrees.

Note: The curve of the path of Mars as seen against the background of stars is now a line heading left at a downward angle.
As of 2023/01/11, the curve of the path has returned to regular movement to the left border

Light travel time today is between 21 and 22 minutes. Communications delay would be 42+ minutes round trip.

===
Earth Distance 2023/12/10 371,352,222 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/12/09 371,688,529 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/12/08 372,042,669 (decreasing)
#>

Light travel in one second is (about) 300,000 kilometers. The distance covered in one minute is about 18,000,000 kilometers. Estimated light times:
1:18, 2:36, 3:54, 4:72, 5:90, 6:108, 7:126, 8:144,9:162,10:180,11:198,12:216,13:234,14:252,15:270,16:288,17:306,18:324,19:342,20:360,21:378,22:396

Mars and Earth are moving apart after Opposition. Maximum Earth-Mars is estimated to be 401 kilometers (both at apogee and opposite vs Sun)
Mars and Earth were in Opposition (Earth center) in December of 2022. The date coincided with a (very rare) occultation of Mars by the Moon.
Mars and Earth were in Conjunction (Sun center) in November of 2023.
Mars and Earth appear to have been as close as they will get in this cycle. 81,454,323 kilometers on J0036644 Time: 4.53 minutes - 9 minutes round trip

In his online interview with Dr. Zubrin at the 2020 Mars Conference, Elon Musk reminded the audience that communications with Mars will necessarily include an intermediary station to handle traffic when the Sun is between Mars and Earth. Communications delays in that circumstance will increase due to the extra distance to be covered. Mr. Musk indicated he expects such communication will be handled by laser. Location would be optimum at poles of solar plane.

Regular movement of Mars as seen from Earth resumed as of 2023/01/13. RA is once again increasing.
According to www.hercampus.com, Retrograde movement began October 30, 2022.
The online solar system display at the link below shows clearly how the Mars movement will occur in months ahead.

This web site offers an online model of the solar system: www.solarsystemscope.com It requires Chrome 57, Firefox 52 or Safari 10.1. Viewed 2022/10/13: Opposition will occur some time in December of 2022. Per earthsky.org, the date is December 8, 2022.

This web site offers an online orrery view of the Solar System: https://www.theplanetstoday.com/

===
Sol 339 is in Month 13 of a Proposed 24 month calendar. See Post 19 of Holidays topic for a summary.
Month 13 extends from Sol 335 through 362. <<== There are 28 days in Month 13. See post 82 of Holidays topic for current details.
Direct path to source: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257
Sol 339 is Thursday in the Proposed Business calendar for Mars. Sol 339 is a Skip Day on Mars
##

The Next New Year's on Mars will occur when Solar Longitude reaches 360 degrees. <<== The current year on Mars is 37
Per www.planetary.org Year 36 started 2021/02/07 on Earth. Mars Year 37 began 2022/12/27 on Earth.

The last Skip Day occurred September 27, 2023 on Earth. A Skip Day occurs when the longer Mars Sol accumulates 24 Earth hours.
The next Skip day is expected November 2, 2023 (range 1 before >> 1 after) on Earth.

Count of days in current skip period: 39
Days of the Week Alignment:
Days of the week fall behind Earth due to the longer Sol, but they also change when Friday is omitted at the end of a Quarter
337 Earth days were observed to elapse in the 2020 weekday cycle. There were 7 week day transitions and 2 Quarter ends.
The next cycle began on the first Sol of the period of coincidence. The alignment of weekdays interval is in the range: (310 - 337)
To find the first day of a period of coincidence: Set up: SearchTerm(colon) and (colon)Alignment and J0036* or J0037*
The most recent End-Of-Quarter change occurred: … The search specified above gave 11 pages of results.

For current weather on Mars see:

***https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/weather/***
***Insight's weather info has been suspended and now is directing to msl*** <<-- Insight's mission is over (2022)

https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/weather/

Per SpaceNut: Here is another web page by NASA containing the latest news releases

https://mars.nasa.gov/news/?page=0&per_ … ope=Latest

All forum members are invited to post significant events for this day.
Events of interest will be ON Mars, or relate to Mars. Examples are launches, landings, discoveries

Standard Month in Mars Business Calendar Copyright ® 2023 NewMars.com Mars Society
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1    2    3    4    5    6    7
8    9 10    11 12 13 14
15 16 17    18 19 20 21
22 23 24    25 26 27 28

Recruiting text may be found at the bottom of this post: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257

Month 13 of 24: This is the first month of the 3rd Quarter and 2nd Half

tahanson43206 · 2023-12-11 07:09:43

===
Today on Mars: 0037/13/06 Friday Days of the week offset 3 with Earth. (count from Mars to Earth (updated 2023/12/04)) Skip Day

Today on Earth: 2023/12/11 Monday (Earth Date) Post Title: Today on Mars [Aphelion occurred May 30, 2023 Earth Calendar]
====*=

Per http://www-mars.lmd.jussieu.fr/mars/tim … _time.html also see: in-the-sky.org for opposition/perigee/aphelion

Martian Year: 37 Martian Astronomical Month in 12 month format: 6 <<== The Astronomical month will increment when longitude reaches 180 degrees

===
Solar Longitude: 162.0 Sol Number: 340 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037340
Solar Longitude: 161.5 Sol Number: 339 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037339 << Skip Day on Mars
Solar Longitude: 161.0 Sol Number: 339 Change in degrees is +.6 Julian date is: J0037339
==#

Note that Solar Longitude measurement varies as a function of location in orbit. Ls 0 is the moment when the Sun appears to transit from one hemisphere to the other. Update from Mars.NASA.gov (The Sun crosses the equator of Mars (Vernal Equinox)). The transition itself is a function of the tilt of an object with respect to the Solar plane. Per squarewidget.com, Hipparchus created the celestial coordinate system we use today.

Note#2: https://theskylive.com/mars-tracker This web site shows the astronomical position of Mars as seen from Earth
Todo: At next Aphelion/Perihelion record the Mars data J00##### (and set Search term)
Perihelion occurred at Ls 251 on Sol 485 - Earth Date 2022/06/21 Next: (estimated) 2024/05/08
Perihelion occurred at Ls 253 on Sol 485 Earth Date 2020/08/03 Earlier: 2018/09/16, 2016/10/29
Aphelion occurred at--- Ls 071 on Sol 152. Aphelion Earth Dates: Earlier: 2017/10/07, 2015/11/20
Aphelion occurred near Ls 070 on Sol 153 (per www.planetary.org)

Note#3: The computations below are dependent upon both the computations provided by the reference web site and by accuracy of recording of the time of observations. The calculations use tenths of hours. The Sun Distance needs to be captured at the moment the time increments to a given tenth.

Note on data below: The figure quoted after distance is a rate of progress along the orbital path [exact meaning to be determined]
Minus prefix means Mars is approaching the Sun. Plus prefix means Mars is moving away from the Sun.
The figure computed to the right of "Difference" is the rate of change of the distance to Sun. Increasing to Aphelion/Decreasing to Perihelion.

===
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 225,468,291 km [24.4 km/s] Difference is -195333 <= -8139 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/11 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 225,663,624 km [24.4 km/s] Difference is -195330 <= -8139 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/10 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 225,858,954 km [24.4 km/s] Difference is -195219 <= -8134 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/09 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
===*===*==

Observation: The sky view is ** filled ** with objects and some have been recorded and given identification by humans or their robot assistants
And! ** All ** the location assignments are from the perspective of Earth. The entire catalog needs to be adjusted when inter-stellar travel begins
The work that lies ahead for the astronomical community is daunting - there is work ahead for centuries
2022/01/19 - All current (existing) stellar catalogs are computed with reference to the Earth. Another civilization would use it's planet as reference.
Perhaps a Milky Way frame of reference will become necessary at some point. The Earth is as good a Zero point as any, for humans.

=== Mars is in Regular Movement as seen from Earth. Mars is progressing from upper right to lower left in the view from Earth.
Next up: mini-Boomer at far left above path: HIP 81941 RA 16h 44m 17.7s Day 0 -
TYC 6796-987-1 RA 16h 40m 12.1s – Day 0 – Day 1 at far right of view -
====*====*===

Zoom Out Capability As a general observation ... I've become increasingly interested in knowing what the larger view of the sky might be like.
The site: theskylive.com does a terrific job of matching the view from Earth towards Mars, against a background of actual astronomical plates.
I wish there were a way (or rather, I wish I ** knew ** about a way that may exist) to enlarge the view until the entire galaxy is in view (Zoom out)
Update 2022/12/08 TheSkyLive.com provides a large view of selected objects: Select [Major Bodies] Then select [Information] in the body of interest
Update 2022/12/08 Scroll down to (body) Position and Finder Charts. Field of view is 50x30 degrees.

Note: The curve of the path of Mars as seen against the background of stars is now a line heading left at a downward angle.
As of 2023/01/11, the curve of the path has returned to regular movement to the left border

Light travel time today is between 21 and 22 minutes. Communications delay would be 42+ minutes round trip.

===
Earth Distance 2023/12/11 370,996,666 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/12/10 371,352,222 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/12/09 371,688,529 (decreasing)
#>

Light travel in one second is (about) 300,000 kilometers. The distance covered in one minute is about 18,000,000 kilometers. Estimated light times:
1:18, 2:36, 3:54, 4:72, 5:90, 6:108, 7:126, 8:144,9:162,10:180,11:198,12:216,13:234,14:252,15:270,16:288,17:306,18:324,19:342,20:360,21:378,22:396

Mars and Earth are moving apart after Opposition. Maximum Earth-Mars is estimated to be 401 kilometers (both at apogee and opposite vs Sun)
Mars and Earth were in Opposition (Earth center) in December of 2022. The date coincided with a (very rare) occultation of Mars by the Moon.
Mars and Earth were in Conjunction (Sun center) in November of 2023.
Mars and Earth appear to have been as close as they will get in this cycle. 81,454,323 kilometers on J0036644 Time: 4.53 minutes - 9 minutes round trip

In his online interview with Dr. Zubrin at the 2020 Mars Conference, Elon Musk reminded the audience that communications with Mars will necessarily include an intermediary station to handle traffic when the Sun is between Mars and Earth. Communications delays in that circumstance will increase due to the extra distance to be covered. Mr. Musk indicated he expects such communication will be handled by laser. Location would be optimum at poles of solar plane.

Regular movement of Mars as seen from Earth resumed as of 2023/01/13. RA is once again increasing.
According to www.hercampus.com, Retrograde movement began October 30, 2022.
The online solar system display at the link below shows clearly how the Mars movement will occur in months ahead.

This web site offers an online model of the solar system: www.solarsystemscope.com It requires Chrome 57, Firefox 52 or Safari 10.1. Viewed 2022/10/13: Opposition will occur some time in December of 2022. Per earthsky.org, the date is December 8, 2022.

This web site offers an online orrery view of the Solar System: https://www.theplanetstoday.com/

===
Sol 340 is in Month 13 of a Proposed 24 month calendar. See Post 19 of Holidays topic for a summary.
Month 13 extends from Sol 335 through 362. <<== There are 28 days in Month 13. See post 82 of Holidays topic for current details.
Direct path to source: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257
Sol 340 is Friday in the Proposed Business calendar for Mars. Sol 339 is a Skip Day on Mars
##

The Next New Year's on Mars will occur when Solar Longitude reaches 360 degrees. <<== The current year on Mars is 37
Per www.planetary.org Year 36 started 2021/02/07 on Earth. Mars Year 37 began 2022/12/27 on Earth.

The last Skip Day occurred September 27, 2023 on Earth. A Skip Day occurs when the longer Mars Sol accumulates 24 Earth hours.
The next Skip day is expected November 2, 2023 (range 1 before >> 1 after) on Earth.

Count of days in current skip period: 39
Days of the Week Alignment:
Days of the week fall behind Earth due to the longer Sol, but they also change when Friday is omitted at the end of a Quarter
337 Earth days were observed to elapse in the 2020 weekday cycle. There were 7 week day transitions and 2 Quarter ends.
The next cycle began on the first Sol of the period of coincidence. The alignment of weekdays interval is in the range: (310 - 337)
To find the first day of a period of coincidence: Set up: SearchTerm(colon) and (colon)Alignment and J0036* or J0037*
The most recent End-Of-Quarter change occurred: … The search specified above gave 11 pages of results.

For current weather on Mars see:

***https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/weather/***
***Insight's weather info has been suspended and now is directing to msl*** <<-- Insight's mission is over (2022)

https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/weather/

Per SpaceNut: Here is another web page by NASA containing the latest news releases

https://mars.nasa.gov/news/?page=0&per_ … ope=Latest

All forum members are invited to post significant events for this day.
Events of interest will be ON Mars, or relate to Mars. Examples are launches, landings, discoveries

Standard Month in Mars Business Calendar Copyright ® 2023 NewMars.com Mars Society
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1    2    3    4    5    6    7
8    9 10    11 12 13 14
15 16 17    18 19 20 21
22 23 24    25 26 27 28

Recruiting text may be found at the bottom of this post: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257

Month 13 of 24: This is the first month of the 3rd Quarter and 2nd Half

tahanson43206 · 2023-12-12 07:22:27

===
Today on Mars: 0037/13/07 Saturday Days of the week offset 3 with Earth. (count from Mars to Earth (updated 2023/12/04)) Skip Day

Today on Earth: 2023/12/12 Tuesday (Earth Date) Post Title: Today on Mars [Aphelion occurred May 30, 2023 Earth Calendar]
====*=

Per http://www-mars.lmd.jussieu.fr/mars/tim … _time.html also see: in-the-sky.org for opposition/perigee/aphelion

Martian Year: 37 Martian Astronomical Month in 12 month format: 6 <<== The Astronomical month will increment when longitude reaches 180 degrees

===
Solar Longitude: 162.6 Sol Number: 341 Change in degrees is +.6 Julian date is: J0037341
Solar Longitude: 162.0 Sol Number: 340 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037340
Solar Longitude: 161.5 Sol Number: 339 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037339 << Skip Day on Mars
==#

Note that Solar Longitude measurement varies as a function of location in orbit. Ls 0 is the moment when the Sun appears to transit from one hemisphere to the other. Update from Mars.NASA.gov (The Sun crosses the equator of Mars (Vernal Equinox)). The transition itself is a function of the tilt of an object with respect to the Solar plane. Per squarewidget.com, Hipparchus created the celestial coordinate system we use today.

Note#2: https://theskylive.com/mars-tracker This web site shows the astronomical position of Mars as seen from Earth
Todo: At next Aphelion/Perihelion record the Mars data J00##### (and set Search term)
Perihelion occurred at Ls 251 on Sol 485 - Earth Date 2022/06/21 Next: (estimated) 2024/05/08
Perihelion occurred at Ls 253 on Sol 485 Earth Date 2020/08/03 Earlier: 2018/09/16, 2016/10/29
Aphelion occurred at--- Ls 071 on Sol 152. Aphelion Earth Dates: Earlier: 2017/10/07, 2015/11/20
Aphelion occurred near Ls 070 on Sol 153 (per www.planetary.org)

Note#3: The computations below are dependent upon both the computations provided by the reference web site and by accuracy of recording of the time of observations. The calculations use tenths of hours. The Sun Distance needs to be captured at the moment the time increments to a given tenth.

Note on data below: The figure quoted after distance is a rate of progress along the orbital path [exact meaning to be determined]
Minus prefix means Mars is approaching the Sun. Plus prefix means Mars is moving away from the Sun.
The figure computed to the right of "Difference" is the rate of change of the distance to Sun. Increasing to Aphelion/Decreasing to Perihelion.

===
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 225,272,992 km [24.4 km/s] Difference is -195299 <= -8137 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/12 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 225,468,291 km [24.4 km/s] Difference is -195333 <= -8139 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/11 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 225,663,624 km [24.4 km/s] Difference is -195330 <= -8139 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/10 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
===*===*==

Observation: The sky view is ** filled ** with objects and some have been recorded and given identification by humans or their robot assistants
And! ** All ** the location assignments are from the perspective of Earth. The entire catalog needs to be adjusted when inter-stellar travel begins
The work that lies ahead for the astronomical community is daunting - there is work ahead for centuries
2022/01/19 - All current (existing) stellar catalogs are computed with reference to the Earth. Another civilization would use it's planet as reference.
Perhaps a Milky Way frame of reference will become necessary at some point. The Earth is as good a Zero point as any, for humans.

=== Mars is in Regular Movement as seen from Earth. Mars is progressing from upper right to lower left in the view from Earth.
Next up: Star just below path at far left: TYC 6809-491-1 RA 16h 46m 53.7s – Day 0 -
HIP 81941 RA 16h 44m 17.7s Day 0 – Day 1 between 4.5 and 9 hour markers – last day for 941
====*====*===

Zoom Out Capability As a general observation ... I've become increasingly interested in knowing what the larger view of the sky might be like.
The site: theskylive.com does a terrific job of matching the view from Earth towards Mars, against a background of actual astronomical plates.
I wish there were a way (or rather, I wish I ** knew ** about a way that may exist) to enlarge the view until the entire galaxy is in view (Zoom out)
Update 2022/12/08 TheSkyLive.com provides a large view of selected objects: Select [Major Bodies] Then select [Information] in the body of interest
Update 2022/12/08 Scroll down to (body) Position and Finder Charts. Field of view is 50x30 degrees.

Note: The curve of the path of Mars as seen against the background of stars is now a line heading left at a downward angle.
As of 2023/01/11, the curve of the path has returned to regular movement to the left border

Light travel time today is between 21 and 22 minutes. Communications delay would be 42+ minutes round trip.

===
Earth Distance 2023/12/12 370,662,222 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/12/11 370,996,666 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/12/10 371,352,222 (decreasing)
#>

Light travel in one second is (about) 300,000 kilometers. The distance covered in one minute is about 18,000,000 kilometers. Estimated light times:
1:18, 2:36, 3:54, 4:72, 5:90, 6:108, 7:126, 8:144,9:162,10:180,11:198,12:216,13:234,14:252,15:270,16:288,17:306,18:324,19:342,20:360,21:378,22:396

Mars and Earth are moving apart after Opposition. Maximum Earth-Mars is estimated to be 401 kilometers (both at apogee and opposite vs Sun)
Mars and Earth were in Opposition (Earth center) in December of 2022. The date coincided with a (very rare) occultation of Mars by the Moon.
Mars and Earth were in Conjunction (Sun center) in November of 2023.
Mars and Earth appear to have been as close as they will get in this cycle. 81,454,323 kilometers on J0036644 Time: 4.53 minutes - 9 minutes round trip

In his online interview with Dr. Zubrin at the 2020 Mars Conference, Elon Musk reminded the audience that communications with Mars will necessarily include an intermediary station to handle traffic when the Sun is between Mars and Earth. Communications delays in that circumstance will increase due to the extra distance to be covered. Mr. Musk indicated he expects such communication will be handled by laser. Location would be optimum at poles of solar plane.

Regular movement of Mars as seen from Earth resumed as of 2023/01/13. RA is once again increasing.
According to www.hercampus.com, Retrograde movement began October 30, 2022.
The online solar system display at the link below shows clearly how the Mars movement will occur in months ahead.

This web site offers an online model of the solar system: www.solarsystemscope.com It requires Chrome 57, Firefox 52 or Safari 10.1. Viewed 2022/10/13: Opposition will occur some time in December of 2022. Per earthsky.org, the date is December 8, 2022.

This web site offers an online orrery view of the Solar System: https://www.theplanetstoday.com/

===
Sol 341 is in Month 13 of a Proposed 24 month calendar. See Post 19 of Holidays topic for a summary.
Month 13 extends from Sol 335 through 362. <<== There are 28 days in Month 13. See post 82 of Holidays topic for current details.
Direct path to source: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257
Sol 341 is Saturday in the Proposed Business calendar for Mars. Sol 339 is a Skip Day on Mars
##

The Next New Year's on Mars will occur when Solar Longitude reaches 360 degrees. <<== The current year on Mars is 37
Per www.planetary.org Year 36 started 2021/02/07 on Earth. Mars Year 37 began 2022/12/27 on Earth.

The last Skip Day occurred September 27, 2023 on Earth. A Skip Day occurs when the longer Mars Sol accumulates 24 Earth hours.
The next Skip day is expected November 2, 2023 (range 1 before >> 1 after) on Earth.

Count of days in current skip period: 39
Days of the Week Alignment:
Days of the week fall behind Earth due to the longer Sol, but they also change when Friday is omitted at the end of a Quarter
337 Earth days were observed to elapse in the 2020 weekday cycle. There were 7 week day transitions and 2 Quarter ends.
The next cycle began on the first Sol of the period of coincidence. The alignment of weekdays interval is in the range: (310 - 337)
To find the first day of a period of coincidence: Set up: SearchTerm(colon) and (colon)Alignment and J0036* or J0037*
The most recent End-Of-Quarter change occurred: … The search specified above gave 11 pages of results.

For current weather on Mars see:

***https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/weather/***
***Insight's weather info has been suspended and now is directing to msl*** <<-- Insight's mission is over (2022)

https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/weather/

Per SpaceNut: Here is another web page by NASA containing the latest news releases

https://mars.nasa.gov/news/?page=0&per_ … ope=Latest

All forum members are invited to post significant events for this day.
Events of interest will be ON Mars, or relate to Mars. Examples are launches, landings, discoveries

Standard Month in Mars Business Calendar Copyright ® 2023 NewMars.com Mars Society
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1    2    3    4    5    6    7
8    9 10    11 12 13 14
15 16 17    18 19 20 21
22 23 24    25 26 27 28

Recruiting text may be found at the bottom of this post: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257

Month 13 of 24: This is the first month of the 3rd Quarter and 2nd Half

tahanson43206 · 2023-12-13 07:17:51

===
Today on Mars: 0037/13/08 Sunday Days of the week offset 3 with Earth. (count from Mars to Earth (updated 2023/12/04)) Skip Day

Today on Earth: 2023/12/13 Wednesday (Earth Date) Post Title: Today on Mars [Aphelion occurred May 30, 2023 Earth Calendar]
====*=

Per http://www-mars.lmd.jussieu.fr/mars/tim … _time.html also see: in-the-sky.org for opposition/perigee/aphelion

Martian Year: 37 Martian Astronomical Month in 12 month format: 6 <<== The Astronomical month will increment when longitude reaches 180 degrees

===
Solar Longitude: 163.1 Sol Number: 342 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037342
Solar Longitude: 162.6 Sol Number: 341 Change in degrees is +.6 Julian date is: J0037341
Solar Longitude: 162.0 Sol Number: 340 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037340
==#

Note that Solar Longitude measurement varies as a function of location in orbit. Ls 0 is the moment when the Sun appears to transit from one hemisphere to the other. Update from Mars.NASA.gov (The Sun crosses the equator of Mars (Vernal Equinox)). The transition itself is a function of the tilt of an object with respect to the Solar plane. Per squarewidget.com, Hipparchus created the celestial coordinate system we use today.

Note#2: https://theskylive.com/mars-tracker This web site shows the astronomical position of Mars as seen from Earth
Todo: At next Aphelion/Perihelion record the Mars data J00##### (and set Search term)
Perihelion occurred at Ls 251 on Sol 485 - Earth Date 2022/06/21 Next: (estimated) 2024/05/08
Perihelion occurred at Ls 253 on Sol 485 Earth Date 2020/08/03 Earlier: 2018/09/16, 2016/10/29
Aphelion occurred at--- Ls 071 on Sol 152. Aphelion Earth Dates: Earlier: 2017/10/07, 2015/11/20
Aphelion occurred near Ls 070 on Sol 153 (per www.planetary.org)

Note#3: The computations below are dependent upon both the computations provided by the reference web site and by accuracy of recording of the time of observations. The calculations use tenths of hours. The Sun Distance needs to be captured at the moment the time increments to a given tenth.

Note on data below: The figure quoted after distance is a rate of progress along the orbital path [exact meaning to be determined]
Minus prefix means Mars is approaching the Sun. Plus prefix means Mars is moving away from the Sun.
The figure computed to the right of "Difference" is the rate of change of the distance to Sun. Increasing to Aphelion/Decreasing to Perihelion.

===
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 225,077,767 km [24.4 km/s] Difference is -195225 <= -8134 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/13 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 225,272,992 km [24.4 km/s] Difference is -195299 <= -8137 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/12 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 225,468,291 km [24.4 km/s] Difference is -195333 <= -8139 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/11 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
===*===*==

Observation: The sky view is ** filled ** with objects and some have been recorded and given identification by humans or their robot assistants
And! ** All ** the location assignments are from the perspective of Earth. The entire catalog needs to be adjusted when inter-stellar travel begins
The work that lies ahead for the astronomical community is daunting - there is work ahead for centuries
2022/01/19 - All current (existing) stellar catalogs are computed with reference to the Earth. Another civilization would use it's planet as reference.
Perhaps a Milky Way frame of reference will become necessary at some point. The Earth is as good a Zero point as any, for humans.

=== Mars is in Regular Movement as seen from Earth. Mars is progressing from upper right to lower left in the view from Earth.
Next up: Mini-Boomer HIP 82319 above path above 9 hour marker: RA 16h 49m 12.2s Day 0 -
TYC 6809-491-1 RA 16h 46m 53.7s – Day 0 – Day 1 just below 9 hours past marker
====*====*===

Zoom Out Capability As a general observation ... I've become increasingly interested in knowing what the larger view of the sky might be like.
The site: theskylive.com does a terrific job of matching the view from Earth towards Mars, against a background of actual astronomical plates.
I wish there were a way (or rather, I wish I ** knew ** about a way that may exist) to enlarge the view until the entire galaxy is in view (Zoom out)
Update 2022/12/08 TheSkyLive.com provides a large view of selected objects: Select [Major Bodies] Then select [Information] in the body of interest
Update 2022/12/08 Scroll down to (body) Position and Finder Charts. Field of view is 50x30 degrees.

Note: The curve of the path of Mars as seen against the background of stars is now a line heading left at a downward angle.
As of 2023/01/11, the curve of the path has returned to regular movement to the left border

Light travel time today is between 21 and 22 minutes. Communications delay would be 42+ minutes round trip.

===
Earth Distance 2023/12/13 370,269, 555 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/12/12 370,662,222 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/12/11 370,996,666 (decreasing)
#>

Light travel in one second is (about) 300,000 kilometers. The distance covered in one minute is about 18,000,000 kilometers. Estimated light times:
1:18, 2:36, 3:54, 4:72, 5:90, 6:108, 7:126, 8:144,9:162,10:180,11:198,12:216,13:234,14:252,15:270,16:288,17:306,18:324,19:342,20:360,21:378,22:396

Mars and Earth are moving apart after Opposition. Maximum Earth-Mars is estimated to be 401 kilometers (both at apogee and opposite vs Sun)
Mars and Earth were in Opposition (Earth center) in December of 2022. The date coincided with a (very rare) occultation of Mars by the Moon.
Mars and Earth were in Conjunction (Sun center) in November of 2023.
Mars and Earth appear to have been as close as they will get in this cycle. 81,454,323 kilometers on J0036644 Time: 4.53 minutes - 9 minutes round trip

In his online interview with Dr. Zubrin at the 2020 Mars Conference, Elon Musk reminded the audience that communications with Mars will necessarily include an intermediary station to handle traffic when the Sun is between Mars and Earth. Communications delays in that circumstance will increase due to the extra distance to be covered. Mr. Musk indicated he expects such communication will be handled by laser. Location would be optimum at poles of solar plane.

Regular movement of Mars as seen from Earth resumed as of 2023/01/13. RA is once again increasing.
According to www.hercampus.com, Retrograde movement began October 30, 2022.
The online solar system display at the link below shows clearly how the Mars movement will occur in months ahead.

This web site offers an online model of the solar system: www.solarsystemscope.com It requires Chrome 57, Firefox 52 or Safari 10.1. Viewed 2022/10/13: Opposition will occur some time in December of 2022. Per earthsky.org, the date is December 8, 2022.

This web site offers an online orrery view of the Solar System: https://www.theplanetstoday.com/

===
Sol 342 is in Month 13 of a Proposed 24 month calendar. See Post 19 of Holidays topic for a summary.
Month 13 extends from Sol 335 through 362. <<== There are 28 days in Month 13. See post 82 of Holidays topic for current details.
Direct path to source: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257
Sol 342 is Sunday in the Proposed Business calendar for Mars. Sol 339 is a Skip Day on Mars
##

The Next New Year's on Mars will occur when Solar Longitude reaches 360 degrees. <<== The current year on Mars is 37
Per www.planetary.org Year 36 started 2021/02/07 on Earth. Mars Year 37 began 2022/12/27 on Earth.

The last Skip Day occurred September 27, 2023 on Earth. A Skip Day occurs when the longer Mars Sol accumulates 24 Earth hours.
The next Skip day is expected November 2, 2023 (range 1 before >> 1 after) on Earth.

Count of days in current skip period: 39
Days of the Week Alignment:
Days of the week fall behind Earth due to the longer Sol, but they also change when Friday is omitted at the end of a Quarter
337 Earth days were observed to elapse in the 2020 weekday cycle. There were 7 week day transitions and 2 Quarter ends.
The next cycle began on the first Sol of the period of coincidence. The alignment of weekdays interval is in the range: (310 - 337)
To find the first day of a period of coincidence: Set up: SearchTerm(colon) and (colon)Alignment and J0036* or J0037*
The most recent End-Of-Quarter change occurred: … The search specified above gave 11 pages of results.

For current weather on Mars see:

***https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/weather/***
***Insight's weather info has been suspended and now is directing to msl*** <<-- Insight's mission is over (2022)

https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/weather/

Per SpaceNut: Here is another web page by NASA containing the latest news releases

https://mars.nasa.gov/news/?page=0&per_ … ope=Latest

All forum members are invited to post significant events for this day.
Events of interest will be ON Mars, or relate to Mars. Examples are launches, landings, discoveries

Standard Month in Mars Business Calendar Copyright ® 2023 NewMars.com Mars Society
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1    2    3    4    5    6    7
8    9 10    11 12 13 14
15 16 17    18 19 20 21
22 23 24    25 26 27 28

Recruiting text may be found at the bottom of this post: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257

Month 13 of 24: This is the first month of the 3rd Quarter and 2nd Half

tahanson43206 · 2023-12-14 07:13:35

===
Today on Mars: 0037/13/09 Monday Days of the week offset 3 with Earth. (count from Mars to Earth (updated 2023/12/04)) Skip Day

Today on Earth: 2023/12/14 Thursday (Earth Date) Post Title: Today on Mars [Aphelion occurred May 30, 2023 Earth Calendar]
====*=

Per http://www-mars.lmd.jussieu.fr/mars/tim … _time.html also see: in-the-sky.org for opposition/perigee/aphelion

Martian Year: 37 Martian Astronomical Month in 12 month format: 6 <<== The Astronomical month will increment when longitude reaches 180 degrees

===
Solar Longitude: 163.6 Sol Number: 343 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037343
Solar Longitude: 163.1 Sol Number: 342 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037342
Solar Longitude: 162.6 Sol Number: 341 Change in degrees is +.6 Julian date is: J0037341
==#

Note that Solar Longitude measurement varies as a function of location in orbit. Ls 0 is the moment when the Sun appears to transit from one hemisphere to the other. Update from Mars.NASA.gov (The Sun crosses the equator of Mars (Vernal Equinox)). The transition itself is a function of the tilt of an object with respect to the Solar plane. Per squarewidget.com, Hipparchus created the celestial coordinate system we use today.

Note#2: https://theskylive.com/mars-tracker This web site shows the astronomical position of Mars as seen from Earth
Todo: At next Aphelion/Perihelion record the Mars data J00##### (and set Search term)
Perihelion occurred at Ls 251 on Sol 485 - Earth Date 2022/06/21 Next: (estimated) 2024/05/08
Perihelion occurred at Ls 253 on Sol 485 Earth Date 2020/08/03 Earlier: 2018/09/16, 2016/10/29
Aphelion occurred at--- Ls 071 on Sol 152. Aphelion Earth Dates: Earlier: 2017/10/07, 2015/11/20
Aphelion occurred near Ls 070 on Sol 153 (per www.planetary.org)

Note#3: The computations below are dependent upon both the computations provided by the reference web site and by accuracy of recording of the time of observations. The calculations use tenths of hours. The Sun Distance needs to be captured at the moment the time increments to a given tenth.

Note on data below: The figure quoted after distance is a rate of progress along the orbital path [exact meaning to be determined]
Minus prefix means Mars is approaching the Sun. Plus prefix means Mars is moving away from the Sun.
The figure computed to the right of "Difference" is the rate of change of the distance to Sun. Increasing to Aphelion/Decreasing to Perihelion.

===
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 224,882,586 km [24.5 km/s] Difference is -195181 <= -8133 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/14 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 225,077,767 km [24.4 km/s] Difference is -195225 <= -8134 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/13 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 225,272,992 km [24.4 km/s] Difference is -195299 <= -8137 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/12 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
===*===*==

Observation: The sky view is ** filled ** with objects and some have been recorded and given identification by humans or their robot assistants
And! ** All ** the location assignments are from the perspective of Earth. The entire catalog needs to be adjusted when inter-stellar travel begins
The work that lies ahead for the astronomical community is daunting - there is work ahead for centuries
2022/01/19 - All current (existing) stellar catalogs are computed with reference to the Earth. Another civilization would use it's planet as reference.
Perhaps a Milky Way frame of reference will become necessary at some point. The Earth is as good a Zero point as any, for humans.

=== Mars is in Regular Movement as seen from Earth. Mars is progressing from upper right to lower left in the view from Earth.
Next up: mini-boomer HIP 82524 directly in path between 9 and 4.5 hour markers on Day 0 -
HIP 82319 above path above 9 hour marker: RA 16h 49m 12.2s Day 0 – Day 1 at far right – last day for 319
====*====*===

Zoom Out Capability As a general observation ... I've become increasingly interested in knowing what the larger view of the sky might be like.
The site: theskylive.com does a terrific job of matching the view from Earth towards Mars, against a background of actual astronomical plates.
I wish there were a way (or rather, I wish I ** knew ** about a way that may exist) to enlarge the view until the entire galaxy is in view (Zoom out)
Update 2022/12/08 TheSkyLive.com provides a large view of selected objects: Select [Major Bodies] Then select [Information] in the body of interest
Update 2022/12/08 Scroll down to (body) Position and Finder Charts. Field of view is 50x30 degrees.

Note: The curve of the path of Mars as seen against the background of stars is now a line heading left at a downward angle.
As of 2023/01/11, the curve of the path has returned to regular movement to the left border

Light travel time today is between 21 and 22 minutes. Communications delay would be 42+ minutes round trip.

===
Earth Distance 2023/12/14 369,892,195 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/12/13 370,269, 555 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/12/12 370,662,222 (decreasing)
#>

Light travel in one second is (about) 300,000 kilometers. The distance covered in one minute is about 18,000,000 kilometers. Estimated light times:
1:18, 2:36, 3:54, 4:72, 5:90, 6:108, 7:126, 8:144,9:162,10:180,11:198,12:216,13:234,14:252,15:270,16:288,17:306,18:324,19:342,20:360,21:378,22:396

Mars and Earth are moving apart after Opposition. Maximum Earth-Mars is estimated to be 401 kilometers (both at apogee and opposite vs Sun)
Mars and Earth were in Opposition (Earth center) in December of 2022. The date coincided with a (very rare) occultation of Mars by the Moon.
Mars and Earth were in Conjunction (Sun center) in November of 2023.
Mars and Earth appear to have been as close as they will get in this cycle. 81,454,323 kilometers on J0036644 Time: 4.53 minutes - 9 minutes round trip

In his online interview with Dr. Zubrin at the 2020 Mars Conference, Elon Musk reminded the audience that communications with Mars will necessarily include an intermediary station to handle traffic when the Sun is between Mars and Earth. Communications delays in that circumstance will increase due to the extra distance to be covered. Mr. Musk indicated he expects such communication will be handled by laser. Location would be optimum at poles of solar plane.

Regular movement of Mars as seen from Earth resumed as of 2023/01/13. RA is once again increasing.
According to www.hercampus.com, Retrograde movement began October 30, 2022.
The online solar system display at the link below shows clearly how the Mars movement will occur in months ahead.

This web site offers an online model of the solar system: www.solarsystemscope.com It requires Chrome 57, Firefox 52 or Safari 10.1. Viewed 2022/10/13: Opposition will occur some time in December of 2022. Per earthsky.org, the date is December 8, 2022.

This web site offers an online orrery view of the Solar System: https://www.theplanetstoday.com/

===
Sol 343 is in Month 13 of a Proposed 24 month calendar. See Post 19 of Holidays topic for a summary.
Month 13 extends from Sol 335 through 362. <<== There are 28 days in Month 13. See post 82 of Holidays topic for current details.
Direct path to source: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257
Sol 343 is Monday in the Proposed Business calendar for Mars. Sol 339 is a Skip Day on Mars
##

The Next New Year's on Mars will occur when Solar Longitude reaches 360 degrees. <<== The current year on Mars is 37
Per www.planetary.org Year 36 started 2021/02/07 on Earth. Mars Year 37 began 2022/12/27 on Earth.

The last Skip Day occurred September 27, 2023 on Earth. A Skip Day occurs when the longer Mars Sol accumulates 24 Earth hours.
The next Skip day is expected November 2, 2023 (range 1 before >> 1 after) on Earth.

Count of days in current skip period: 39
Days of the Week Alignment:
Days of the week fall behind Earth due to the longer Sol, but they also change when Friday is omitted at the end of a Quarter
337 Earth days were observed to elapse in the 2020 weekday cycle. There were 7 week day transitions and 2 Quarter ends.
The next cycle began on the first Sol of the period of coincidence. The alignment of weekdays interval is in the range: (310 - 337)
To find the first day of a period of coincidence: Set up: SearchTerm(colon) and (colon)Alignment and J0036* or J0037*
The most recent End-Of-Quarter change occurred: … The search specified above gave 11 pages of results.

For current weather on Mars see:

***https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/weather/***
***Insight's weather info has been suspended and now is directing to msl*** <<-- Insight's mission is over (2022)

https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/weather/

Per SpaceNut: Here is another web page by NASA containing the latest news releases

https://mars.nasa.gov/news/?page=0&per_ … ope=Latest

All forum members are invited to post significant events for this day.
Events of interest will be ON Mars, or relate to Mars. Examples are launches, landings, discoveries

Standard Month in Mars Business Calendar Copyright ® 2023 NewMars.com Mars Society
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1    2    3    4    5    6    7
8    9 10    11 12 13 14
15 16 17    18 19 20 21
22 23 24    25 26 27 28

Recruiting text may be found at the bottom of this post: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257

Month 13 of 24: This is the first month of the 3rd Quarter and 2nd Half

tahanson43206 · 2023-12-15 07:12:55

===
Today on Mars: 0037/13/10 Tuesday Days of the week offset 3 with Earth. (count from Mars to Earth (updated 2023/12/04)) Skip Day

Today on Earth: 2023/12/15 Friday (Earth Date) Post Title: Today on Mars [Aphelion occurred May 30, 2023 Earth Calendar]
====*=

Per http://www-mars.lmd.jussieu.fr/mars/tim … _time.html also see: in-the-sky.org for opposition/perigee/aphelion

Martian Year: 37 Martian Astronomical Month in 12 month format: 6 <<== The Astronomical month will increment when longitude reaches 180 degrees

===
Solar Longitude: 164.2 Sol Number: 344 Change in degrees is +.6 Julian date is: J0037344
Solar Longitude: 163.6 Sol Number: 343 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037343
Solar Longitude: 163.1 Sol Number: 342 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037342
==#

Note that Solar Longitude measurement varies as a function of location in orbit. Ls 0 is the moment when the Sun appears to transit from one hemisphere to the other. Update from Mars.NASA.gov (The Sun crosses the equator of Mars (Vernal Equinox)). The transition itself is a function of the tilt of an object with respect to the Solar plane. Per squarewidget.com, Hipparchus created the celestial coordinate system we use today.

Note#2: https://theskylive.com/mars-tracker This web site shows the astronomical position of Mars as seen from Earth
Todo: At next Aphelion/Perihelion record the Mars data J00##### (and set Search term)
Perihelion occurred at Ls 251 on Sol 485 - Earth Date 2022/06/21 Next: (estimated) 2024/05/08
Perihelion occurred at Ls 253 on Sol 485 Earth Date 2020/08/03 Earlier: 2018/09/16, 2016/10/29
Aphelion occurred at--- Ls 071 on Sol 152. Aphelion Earth Dates: Earlier: 2017/10/07, 2015/11/20
Aphelion occurred near Ls 070 on Sol 153 (per www.planetary.org)

Note#3: The computations below are dependent upon both the computations provided by the reference web site and by accuracy of recording of the time of observations. The calculations use tenths of hours. The Sun Distance needs to be captured at the moment the time increments to a given tenth.

Note on data below: The figure quoted after distance is a rate of progress along the orbital path [exact meaning to be determined]
Minus prefix means Mars is approaching the Sun. Plus prefix means Mars is moving away from the Sun.
The figure computed to the right of "Difference" is the rate of change of the distance to Sun. Increasing to Aphelion/Decreasing to Perihelion.

===
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 224,687,421 km [24.5 km/s] Difference is -195165 <= -8132 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/15 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 224,882,586 km [24.5 km/s] Difference is -195181 <= -8133 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/14 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 225,077,767 km [24.4 km/s] Difference is -195225 <= -8134 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/13 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
===*===*==

Observation: The sky view is ** filled ** with objects and some have been recorded and given identification by humans or their robot assistants
And! ** All ** the location assignments are from the perspective of Earth. The entire catalog needs to be adjusted when inter-stellar travel begins
The work that lies ahead for the astronomical community is daunting - there is work ahead for centuries
2022/01/19 - All current (existing) stellar catalogs are computed with reference to the Earth. Another civilization would use it's planet as reference.
Perhaps a Milky Way frame of reference will become necessary at some point. The Earth is as good a Zero point as any, for humans.

=== Mars is in Regular Movement as seen from Earth. Mars is progressing from upper right to lower left in the view from Earth.
Next up: Arc of stars below path and at far left: TYC 6810-137-1 RA 16h 56m 18.6s – Day 0 -
HIP 82524 directly in path between 9 and 4.5 hour markers on Day 0 – off screen on right
====*====*===

Zoom Out Capability As a general observation ... I've become increasingly interested in knowing what the larger view of the sky might be like.
The site: theskylive.com does a terrific job of matching the view from Earth towards Mars, against a background of actual astronomical plates.
I wish there were a way (or rather, I wish I ** knew ** about a way that may exist) to enlarge the view until the entire galaxy is in view (Zoom out)
Update 2022/12/08 TheSkyLive.com provides a large view of selected objects: Select [Major Bodies] Then select [Information] in the body of interest
Update 2022/12/08 Scroll down to (body) Position and Finder Charts. Field of view is 50x30 degrees.

Note: The curve of the path of Mars as seen against the background of stars is now a line heading left at a downward angle.
As of 2023/01/11, the curve of the path has returned to regular movement to the left border

Light travel time today is between 21 and 22 minutes. Communications delay would be 42+ minutes round trip.

===
Earth Distance 2023/12/15 369,474,444 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/12/14 369,892,195 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/12/13 370,269, 555 (decreasing)
#>

Light travel in one second is (about) 300,000 kilometers. The distance covered in one minute is about 18,000,000 kilometers. Estimated light times:
1:18, 2:36, 3:54, 4:72, 5:90, 6:108, 7:126, 8:144,9:162,10:180,11:198,12:216,13:234,14:252,15:270,16:288,17:306,18:324,19:342,20:360,21:378,22:396

Mars and Earth are moving apart after Opposition. Maximum Earth-Mars is estimated to be 401 kilometers (both at apogee and opposite vs Sun)
Mars and Earth were in Opposition (Earth center) in December of 2022. The date coincided with a (very rare) occultation of Mars by the Moon.
Mars and Earth were in Conjunction (Sun center) in November of 2023.
Mars and Earth appear to have been as close as they will get in this cycle. 81,454,323 kilometers on J0036644 Time: 4.53 minutes - 9 minutes round trip

In his online interview with Dr. Zubrin at the 2020 Mars Conference, Elon Musk reminded the audience that communications with Mars will necessarily include an intermediary station to handle traffic when the Sun is between Mars and Earth. Communications delays in that circumstance will increase due to the extra distance to be covered. Mr. Musk indicated he expects such communication will be handled by laser. Location would be optimum at poles of solar plane.

Regular movement of Mars as seen from Earth resumed as of 2023/01/13. RA is once again increasing.
According to www.hercampus.com, Retrograde movement began October 30, 2022.
The online solar system display at the link below shows clearly how the Mars movement will occur in months ahead.

This web site offers an online model of the solar system: www.solarsystemscope.com It requires Chrome 57, Firefox 52 or Safari 10.1. Viewed 2022/10/13: Opposition will occur some time in December of 2022. Per earthsky.org, the date is December 8, 2022.

This web site offers an online orrery view of the Solar System: https://www.theplanetstoday.com/

===
Sol 344 is in Month 13 of a Proposed 24 month calendar. See Post 19 of Holidays topic for a summary.
Month 13 extends from Sol 335 through 362. <<== There are 28 days in Month 13. See post 82 of Holidays topic for current details.
Direct path to source: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257
Sol 344 is Tuesday in the Proposed Business calendar for Mars. Sol 339 is a Skip Day on Mars
##

The Next New Year's on Mars will occur when Solar Longitude reaches 360 degrees. <<== The current year on Mars is 37
Per www.planetary.org Year 36 started 2021/02/07 on Earth. Mars Year 37 began 2022/12/27 on Earth.

The last Skip Day occurred September 27, 2023 on Earth. A Skip Day occurs when the longer Mars Sol accumulates 24 Earth hours.
The next Skip day is expected November 2, 2023 (range 1 before >> 1 after) on Earth.

Count of days in current skip period: 39
Days of the Week Alignment:
Days of the week fall behind Earth due to the longer Sol, but they also change when Friday is omitted at the end of a Quarter
337 Earth days were observed to elapse in the 2020 weekday cycle. There were 7 week day transitions and 2 Quarter ends.
The next cycle began on the first Sol of the period of coincidence. The alignment of weekdays interval is in the range: (310 - 337)
To find the first day of a period of coincidence: Set up: SearchTerm(colon) and (colon)Alignment and J0036* or J0037*
The most recent End-Of-Quarter change occurred: … The search specified above gave 11 pages of results.

For current weather on Mars see:

***https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/weather/***
***Insight's weather info has been suspended and now is directing to msl*** <<-- Insight's mission is over (2022)

https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/weather/

Per SpaceNut: Here is another web page by NASA containing the latest news releases

https://mars.nasa.gov/news/?page=0&per_ … ope=Latest

All forum members are invited to post significant events for this day.
Events of interest will be ON Mars, or relate to Mars. Examples are launches, landings, discoveries

Standard Month in Mars Business Calendar Copyright ® 2023 NewMars.com Mars Society
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1    2    3    4    5    6    7
8    9 10    11 12 13 14
15 16 17    18 19 20 21
22 23 24    25 26 27 28

Recruiting text may be found at the bottom of this post: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257

Month 13 of 24: This is the first month of the 3rd Quarter and 2nd Half

tahanson43206 · 2023-12-16 07:12:11

===
Today on Mars: 0037/13/11 Wednesday Days of the week offset 3 with Earth. (count from Mars to Earth (updated 2023/12/04)) Skip Day

Today on Earth: 2023/12/16 Saturday (Earth Date) Post Title: Today on Mars [Aphelion occurred May 30, 2023 Earth Calendar]
====*=

Per http://www-mars.lmd.jussieu.fr/mars/tim … _time.html also see: in-the-sky.org for opposition/perigee/aphelion

Martian Year: 37 Martian Astronomical Month in 12 month format: 6 <<== The Astronomical month will increment when longitude reaches 180 degrees

===
Solar Longitude: 164.7 Sol Number: 345 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037345
Solar Longitude: 164.2 Sol Number: 344 Change in degrees is +.6 Julian date is: J0037344
Solar Longitude: 163.6 Sol Number: 343 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037343
==#

Note that Solar Longitude measurement varies as a function of location in orbit. Ls 0 is the moment when the Sun appears to transit from one hemisphere to the other. Update from Mars.NASA.gov (The Sun crosses the equator of Mars (Vernal Equinox)). The transition itself is a function of the tilt of an object with respect to the Solar plane. Per squarewidget.com, Hipparchus created the celestial coordinate system we use today.

Note#2: https://theskylive.com/mars-tracker This web site shows the astronomical position of Mars as seen from Earth
Todo: At next Aphelion/Perihelion record the Mars data J00##### (and set Search term)
Perihelion occurred at Ls 251 on Sol 485 - Earth Date 2022/06/21 Next: (estimated) 2024/05/08
Perihelion occurred at Ls 253 on Sol 485 Earth Date 2020/08/03 Earlier: 2018/09/16, 2016/10/29
Aphelion occurred at--- Ls 071 on Sol 152. Aphelion Earth Dates: Earlier: 2017/10/07, 2015/11/20
Aphelion occurred near Ls 070 on Sol 153 (per www.planetary.org)

Note#3: The computations below are dependent upon both the computations provided by the reference web site and by accuracy of recording of the time of observations. The calculations use tenths of hours. The Sun Distance needs to be captured at the moment the time increments to a given tenth.

Note on data below: The figure quoted after distance is a rate of progress along the orbital path [exact meaning to be determined]
Minus prefix means Mars is approaching the Sun. Plus prefix means Mars is moving away from the Sun.
The figure computed to the right of "Difference" is the rate of change of the distance to Sun. Increasing to Aphelion/Decreasing to Perihelion.

===
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 224,492,538 km [24.5 km/s] Difference is -194883 <= -8120 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/16 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 224,687,421 km [24.5 km/s] Difference is -195165 <= -8132 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/15 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 224,882,586 km [24.5 km/s] Difference is -195181 <= -8133 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/14 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
===*===*==

Observation: The sky view is ** filled ** with objects and some have been recorded and given identification by humans or their robot assistants
And! ** All ** the location assignments are from the perspective of Earth. The entire catalog needs to be adjusted when inter-stellar travel begins
The work that lies ahead for the astronomical community is daunting - there is work ahead for centuries
2022/01/19 - All current (existing) stellar catalogs are computed with reference to the Earth. Another civilization would use it's planet as reference.
Perhaps a Milky Way frame of reference will become necessary at some point. The Earth is as good a Zero point as any, for humans.

=== Mars is in Regular Movement as seen from Earth. Mars is progressing from upper right to lower left in the view from Earth.
Next up: Star below path at far left TYC 6810-766-1 RA 16h 59m 18.2s – Day 0 -
TYC 6810-137-1 RA 16h 56m 18.6s – Day 0 – Day 1 Below 9 hours past marker – last day for 137
====*====*===

Zoom Out Capability As a general observation ... I've become increasingly interested in knowing what the larger view of the sky might be like.
The site: theskylive.com does a terrific job of matching the view from Earth towards Mars, against a background of actual astronomical plates.
I wish there were a way (or rather, I wish I ** knew ** about a way that may exist) to enlarge the view until the entire galaxy is in view (Zoom out)
Update 2022/12/08 TheSkyLive.com provides a large view of selected objects: Select [Major Bodies] Then select [Information] in the body of interest
Update 2022/12/08 Scroll down to (body) Position and Finder Charts. Field of view is 50x30 degrees.

Note: The curve of the path of Mars as seen against the background of stars is now a line heading left at a downward angle.
As of 2023/01/11, the curve of the path has returned to regular movement to the left border

Light travel time today is between 21 and 22 minutes. Communications delay would be 42+ minutes round trip.

===
Earth Distance 2023/12/16 369,111,215 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/12/15 369,474,444 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/12/14 369,892,195 (decreasing)
#>

Light travel in one second is (about) 300,000 kilometers. The distance covered in one minute is about 18,000,000 kilometers. Estimated light times:
1:18, 2:36, 3:54, 4:72, 5:90, 6:108, 7:126, 8:144,9:162,10:180,11:198,12:216,13:234,14:252,15:270,16:288,17:306,18:324,19:342,20:360,21:378,22:396

Mars and Earth are moving apart after Opposition. Maximum Earth-Mars is estimated to be 401 kilometers (both at apogee and opposite vs Sun)
Mars and Earth were in Opposition (Earth center) in December of 2022. The date coincided with a (very rare) occultation of Mars by the Moon.
Mars and Earth were in Conjunction (Sun center) in November of 2023.
Mars and Earth appear to have been as close as they will get in this cycle. 81,454,323 kilometers on J0036644 Time: 4.53 minutes - 9 minutes round trip

In his online interview with Dr. Zubrin at the 2020 Mars Conference, Elon Musk reminded the audience that communications with Mars will necessarily include an intermediary station to handle traffic when the Sun is between Mars and Earth. Communications delays in that circumstance will increase due to the extra distance to be covered. Mr. Musk indicated he expects such communication will be handled by laser. Location would be optimum at poles of solar plane.

Regular movement of Mars as seen from Earth resumed as of 2023/01/13. RA is once again increasing.
According to www.hercampus.com, Retrograde movement began October 30, 2022.
The online solar system display at the link below shows clearly how the Mars movement will occur in months ahead.

This web site offers an online model of the solar system: www.solarsystemscope.com It requires Chrome 57, Firefox 52 or Safari 10.1. Viewed 2022/10/13: Opposition will occur some time in December of 2022. Per earthsky.org, the date is December 8, 2022.

This web site offers an online orrery view of the Solar System: https://www.theplanetstoday.com/

===
Sol 345 is in Month 13 of a Proposed 24 month calendar. See Post 19 of Holidays topic for a summary.
Month 13 extends from Sol 335 through 362. <<== There are 28 days in Month 13. See post 82 of Holidays topic for current details.
Direct path to source: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257
Sol 345 is Wednesday in the Proposed Business calendar for Mars. Sol 339 is a Skip Day on Mars
##

The Next New Year's on Mars will occur when Solar Longitude reaches 360 degrees. <<== The current year on Mars is 37
Per www.planetary.org Year 36 started 2021/02/07 on Earth. Mars Year 37 began 2022/12/27 on Earth.

The last Skip Day occurred September 27, 2023 on Earth. A Skip Day occurs when the longer Mars Sol accumulates 24 Earth hours.
The next Skip day is expected November 2, 2023 (range 1 before >> 1 after) on Earth.

Count of days in current skip period: 39
Days of the Week Alignment:
Days of the week fall behind Earth due to the longer Sol, but they also change when Friday is omitted at the end of a Quarter
337 Earth days were observed to elapse in the 2020 weekday cycle. There were 7 week day transitions and 2 Quarter ends.
The next cycle began on the first Sol of the period of coincidence. The alignment of weekdays interval is in the range: (310 - 337)
To find the first day of a period of coincidence: Set up: SearchTerm(colon) and (colon)Alignment and J0036* or J0037*
The most recent End-Of-Quarter change occurred: … The search specified above gave 11 pages of results.

For current weather on Mars see:

***https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/weather/***
***Insight's weather info has been suspended and now is directing to msl*** <<-- Insight's mission is over (2022)

https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/weather/

Per SpaceNut: Here is another web page by NASA containing the latest news releases

https://mars.nasa.gov/news/?page=0&per_ … ope=Latest

All forum members are invited to post significant events for this day.
Events of interest will be ON Mars, or relate to Mars. Examples are launches, landings, discoveries

Standard Month in Mars Business Calendar Copyright ® 2023 NewMars.com Mars Society
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1    2    3    4    5    6    7
8    9 10    11 12 13 14
15 16 17    18 19 20 21
22 23 24    25 26 27 28

Recruiting text may be found at the bottom of this post: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257

Month 13 of 24: This is the first month of the 3rd Quarter and 2nd Half

tahanson43206 · 2023-12-17 07:11:45

===
Today on Mars: 0037/13/12 Thursday Days of the week offset 3 with Earth. (count from Mars to Earth (updated 2023/12/04)) Skip Day

Today on Earth: 2023/12/17 Sunday (Earth Date) Post Title: Today on Mars [Aphelion occurred May 30, 2023 Earth Calendar]
====*=

Per http://www-mars.lmd.jussieu.fr/mars/tim … _time.html also see: in-the-sky.org for opposition/perigee/aphelion

Martian Year: 37 Martian Astronomical Month in 12 month format: 6 <<== The Astronomical month will increment when longitude reaches 180 degrees

===
Solar Longitude: 165.3 Sol Number: 346 Change in degrees is +.6 Julian date is: J0037346
Solar Longitude: 164.7 Sol Number: 345 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037345
Solar Longitude: 164.2 Sol Number: 344 Change in degrees is +.6 Julian date is: J0037344
==#

Note that Solar Longitude measurement varies as a function of location in orbit. Ls 0 is the moment when the Sun appears to transit from one hemisphere to the other. Update from Mars.NASA.gov (The Sun crosses the equator of Mars (Vernal Equinox)). The transition itself is a function of the tilt of an object with respect to the Solar plane. Per squarewidget.com, Hipparchus created the celestial coordinate system we use today.

Note#2: https://theskylive.com/mars-tracker This web site shows the astronomical position of Mars as seen from Earth
Todo: At next Aphelion/Perihelion record the Mars data J00##### (and set Search term)
Perihelion occurred at Ls 251 on Sol 485 - Earth Date 2022/06/21 Next: (estimated) 2024/05/08
Perihelion occurred at Ls 253 on Sol 485 Earth Date 2020/08/03 Earlier: 2018/09/16, 2016/10/29
Aphelion occurred at--- Ls 071 on Sol 152. Aphelion Earth Dates: Earlier: 2017/10/07, 2015/11/20
Aphelion occurred near Ls 070 on Sol 153 (per www.planetary.org)

Note#3: The computations below are dependent upon both the computations provided by the reference web site and by accuracy of recording of the time of observations. The calculations use tenths of hours. The Sun Distance needs to be captured at the moment the time increments to a given tenth.

Note on data below: The figure quoted after distance is a rate of progress along the orbital path [exact meaning to be determined]
Minus prefix means Mars is approaching the Sun. Plus prefix means Mars is moving away from the Sun.
The figure computed to the right of "Difference" is the rate of change of the distance to Sun. Increasing to Aphelion/Decreasing to Perihelion.

===
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 224,297,755 km [24.5 km/s] Difference is -194783 <= -8116 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/17 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 224,492,538 km [24.5 km/s] Difference is -194883 <= -8120 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/16 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 224,687,421 km [24.5 km/s] Difference is -195165 <= -8132 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/15 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
===*===*==

Observation: The sky view is ** filled ** with objects and some have been recorded and given identification by humans or their robot assistants
And! ** All ** the location assignments are from the perspective of Earth. The entire catalog needs to be adjusted when inter-stellar travel begins
The work that lies ahead for the astronomical community is daunting - there is work ahead for centuries
2022/01/19 - All current (existing) stellar catalogs are computed with reference to the Earth. Another civilization would use it's planet as reference.
Perhaps a Milky Way frame of reference will become necessary at some point. The Earth is as good a Zero point as any, for humans.

=== Mars is in Regular Movement as seen from Earth. Mars is progressing from upper right to lower left in the view from Earth.
Next up: Mini-Boomer HIP 83456 at far left above path RA 17h 03m 21.6s Day 0 -
Next up: Star below path at far left TYC 6811-1222-1 RA 17h 03m 20.4s – Day 0 -
TYC 6810-766-1 RA 16h 59m 18.2s – Day 0 – Day 1 just barely hanging onto left edge of the view
====*====*===

Zoom Out Capability As a general observation ... I've become increasingly interested in knowing what the larger view of the sky might be like.
The site: theskylive.com does a terrific job of matching the view from Earth towards Mars, against a background of actual astronomical plates.
I wish there were a way (or rather, I wish I ** knew ** about a way that may exist) to enlarge the view until the entire galaxy is in view (Zoom out)
Update 2022/12/08 TheSkyLive.com provides a large view of selected objects: Select [Major Bodies] Then select [Information] in the body of interest
Update 2022/12/08 Scroll down to (body) Position and Finder Charts. Field of view is 50x30 degrees.

Note: The curve of the path of Mars as seen against the background of stars is now a line heading left at a downward angle.
As of 2023/01/11, the curve of the path has returned to regular movement to the left border

Light travel time today is between 21 and 22 minutes. Communications delay would be 42+ minutes round trip.

===
Earth Distance 2023/12/17 368,714,444 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/12/16 369,111,215 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/12/15 369,474,444 (decreasing)
#>

Light travel in one second is (about) 300,000 kilometers. The distance covered in one minute is about 18,000,000 kilometers. Estimated light times:
1:18, 2:36, 3:54, 4:72, 5:90, 6:108, 7:126, 8:144,9:162,10:180,11:198,12:216,13:234,14:252,15:270,16:288,17:306,18:324,19:342,20:360,21:378,22:396

Mars and Earth are moving apart after Opposition. Maximum Earth-Mars is estimated to be 401 kilometers (both at apogee and opposite vs Sun)
Mars and Earth were in Opposition (Earth center) in December of 2022. The date coincided with a (very rare) occultation of Mars by the Moon.
Mars and Earth were in Conjunction (Sun center) in November of 2023.
Mars and Earth appear to have been as close as they will get in this cycle. 81,454,323 kilometers on J0036644 Time: 4.53 minutes - 9 minutes round trip

In his online interview with Dr. Zubrin at the 2020 Mars Conference, Elon Musk reminded the audience that communications with Mars will necessarily include an intermediary station to handle traffic when the Sun is between Mars and Earth. Communications delays in that circumstance will increase due to the extra distance to be covered. Mr. Musk indicated he expects such communication will be handled by laser. Location would be optimum at poles of solar plane.

Regular movement of Mars as seen from Earth resumed as of 2023/01/13. RA is once again increasing.
According to www.hercampus.com, Retrograde movement began October 30, 2022.
The online solar system display at the link below shows clearly how the Mars movement will occur in months ahead.

This web site offers an online model of the solar system: www.solarsystemscope.com It requires Chrome 57, Firefox 52 or Safari 10.1. Viewed 2022/10/13: Opposition will occur some time in December of 2022. Per earthsky.org, the date is December 8, 2022.

This web site offers an online orrery view of the Solar System: https://www.theplanetstoday.com/

===
Sol 346 is in Month 13 of a Proposed 24 month calendar. See Post 19 of Holidays topic for a summary.
Month 13 extends from Sol 335 through 362. <<== There are 28 days in Month 13. See post 82 of Holidays topic for current details.
Direct path to source: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257
Sol 346 is Thursday in the Proposed Business calendar for Mars. Sol 339 is a Skip Day on Mars
##

The Next New Year's on Mars will occur when Solar Longitude reaches 360 degrees. <<== The current year on Mars is 37
Per www.planetary.org Year 36 started 2021/02/07 on Earth. Mars Year 37 began 2022/12/27 on Earth.

The last Skip Day occurred September 27, 2023 on Earth. A Skip Day occurs when the longer Mars Sol accumulates 24 Earth hours.
The next Skip day is expected November 2, 2023 (range 1 before >> 1 after) on Earth.

Count of days in current skip period: 39
Days of the Week Alignment:
Days of the week fall behind Earth due to the longer Sol, but they also change when Friday is omitted at the end of a Quarter
337 Earth days were observed to elapse in the 2020 weekday cycle. There were 7 week day transitions and 2 Quarter ends.
The next cycle began on the first Sol of the period of coincidence. The alignment of weekdays interval is in the range: (310 - 337)
To find the first day of a period of coincidence: Set up: SearchTerm(colon) and (colon)Alignment and J0036* or J0037*
The most recent End-Of-Quarter change occurred: … The search specified above gave 11 pages of results.

For current weather on Mars see:

***https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/weather/***
***Insight's weather info has been suspended and now is directing to msl*** <<-- Insight's mission is over (2022)

https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/weather/

Per SpaceNut: Here is another web page by NASA containing the latest news releases

https://mars.nasa.gov/news/?page=0&per_ … ope=Latest

All forum members are invited to post significant events for this day.
Events of interest will be ON Mars, or relate to Mars. Examples are launches, landings, discoveries

Standard Month in Mars Business Calendar Copyright ® 2023 NewMars.com Mars Society
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1    2    3    4    5    6    7
8    9 10    11 12 13 14
15 16 17    18 19 20 21
22 23 24    25 26 27 28

Recruiting text may be found at the bottom of this post: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257

Month 13 of 24: This is the first month of the 3rd Quarter and 2nd Half

tahanson43206 · 2023-12-18 08:35:45

===
Today on Mars: 0037/13/13 Friday Days of the week offset 3 with Earth. (count from Mars to Earth (updated 2023/12/04)) Skip Day

Today on Earth: 2023/12/18 Monday (Earth Date) Post Title: Today on Mars [Aphelion occurred May 30, 2023 Earth Calendar]
====*=

Per http://www-mars.lmd.jussieu.fr/mars/tim … _time.html also see: in-the-sky.org for opposition/perigee/aphelion

Martian Year: 37 Martian Astronomical Month in 12 month format: 6 <<== The Astronomical month will increment when longitude reaches 180 degrees

===
Solar Longitude: 165.8 Sol Number: 347 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037347
Solar Longitude: 165.3 Sol Number: 346 Change in degrees is +.6 Julian date is: J0037346
Solar Longitude: 164.7 Sol Number: 345 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037345
==#

Note that Solar Longitude measurement varies as a function of location in orbit. Ls 0 is the moment when the Sun appears to transit from one hemisphere to the other. Update from Mars.NASA.gov (The Sun crosses the equator of Mars (Vernal Equinox)). The transition itself is a function of the tilt of an object with respect to the Solar plane. Per squarewidget.com, Hipparchus created the celestial coordinate system we use today.

Note#2: https://theskylive.com/mars-tracker This web site shows the astronomical position of Mars as seen from Earth
Todo: At next Aphelion/Perihelion record the Mars data J00##### (and set Search term)
Perihelion occurred at Ls 251 on Sol 485 - Earth Date 2022/06/21 Next: (estimated) 2024/05/08
Perihelion occurred at Ls 253 on Sol 485 Earth Date 2020/08/03 Earlier: 2018/09/16, 2016/10/29
Aphelion occurred at--- Ls 071 on Sol 152. Aphelion Earth Dates: Earlier: 2017/10/07, 2015/11/20
Aphelion occurred near Ls 070 on Sol 153 (per www.planetary.org)

Note#3: The computations below are dependent upon both the computations provided by the reference web site and by accuracy of recording of the time of observations. The calculations use tenths of hours. The Sun Distance needs to be captured at the moment the time increments to a given tenth.

Note on data below: The figure quoted after distance is a rate of progress along the orbital path [exact meaning to be determined]
Minus prefix means Mars is approaching the Sun. Plus prefix means Mars is moving away from the Sun.
The figure computed to the right of "Difference" is the rate of change of the distance to Sun. Increasing to Aphelion/Decreasing to Perihelion.

===
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 224,103,109 km [24.5 km/s] Difference is -194646 <= -8110 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/18 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 224,297,755 km [24.5 km/s] Difference is -194783 <= -8116 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/17 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 224,492,538 km [24.5 km/s] Difference is -194883 <= -8120 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/16 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
===*===*==

Observation: The sky view is ** filled ** with objects and some have been recorded and given identification by humans or their robot assistants
And! ** All ** the location assignments are from the perspective of Earth. The entire catalog needs to be adjusted when inter-stellar travel begins
The work that lies ahead for the astronomical community is daunting - there is work ahead for centuries
2022/01/19 - All current (existing) stellar catalogs are computed with reference to the Earth. Another civilization would use it's planet as reference.
Perhaps a Milky Way frame of reference will become necessary at some point. The Earth is as good a Zero point as any, for humans.

=== Mars is in Regular Movement as seen from Earth. Mars is progressing from upper right to lower left in the view from Earth.
Next up: Plenty of choices today: Just below path at far left: TYC 6811-1150-1 RA 17h 06m 01.2s – Day 0 -
HIP 83456 at far left above path RA 17h 03m 21.6s Day 0 – above 4.5 hours past marker – probably last day for 456
TYC 6811-1222-1 RA 17h 03m 20.4s – Day 0 – Under 4.5 hours past marker – 1222 might last another day
====*====*===

Zoom Out Capability As a general observation ... I've become increasingly interested in knowing what the larger view of the sky might be like.
The site: theskylive.com does a terrific job of matching the view from Earth towards Mars, against a background of actual astronomical plates.
I wish there were a way (or rather, I wish I ** knew ** about a way that may exist) to enlarge the view until the entire galaxy is in view (Zoom out)
Update 2022/12/08 TheSkyLive.com provides a large view of selected objects: Select [Major Bodies] Then select [Information] in the body of interest
Update 2022/12/08 Scroll down to (body) Position and Finder Charts. Field of view is 50x30 degrees.

Note: The curve of the path of Mars as seen against the background of stars is now a line heading left at a downward angle.
As of 2023/01/11, the curve of the path has returned to regular movement to the left border

Light travel time today is between 21 and 22 minutes. Communications delay would be 42+ minutes round trip.

===
Earth Distance 2023/12/18 368,324,248 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/12/17 368,714,444 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/12/16 369,111,215 (decreasing)
#>

Light travel in one second is (about) 300,000 kilometers. The distance covered in one minute is about 18,000,000 kilometers. Estimated light times:
1:18, 2:36, 3:54, 4:72, 5:90, 6:108, 7:126, 8:144,9:162,10:180,11:198,12:216,13:234,14:252,15:270,16:288,17:306,18:324,19:342,20:360,21:378,22:396

Mars and Earth are moving apart after Opposition. Maximum Earth-Mars is estimated to be 401 kilometers (both at apogee and opposite vs Sun)
Mars and Earth were in Opposition (Earth center) in December of 2022. The date coincided with a (very rare) occultation of Mars by the Moon.
Mars and Earth were in Conjunction (Sun center) in November of 2023.
Mars and Earth appear to have been as close as they will get in this cycle. 81,454,323 kilometers on J0036644 Time: 4.53 minutes - 9 minutes round trip

In his online interview with Dr. Zubrin at the 2020 Mars Conference, Elon Musk reminded the audience that communications with Mars will necessarily include an intermediary station to handle traffic when the Sun is between Mars and Earth. Communications delays in that circumstance will increase due to the extra distance to be covered. Mr. Musk indicated he expects such communication will be handled by laser. Location would be optimum at poles of solar plane.

Regular movement of Mars as seen from Earth resumed as of 2023/01/13. RA is once again increasing.
According to www.hercampus.com, Retrograde movement began October 30, 2022.
The online solar system display at the link below shows clearly how the Mars movement will occur in months ahead.

This web site offers an online model of the solar system: www.solarsystemscope.com It requires Chrome 57, Firefox 52 or Safari 10.1. Viewed 2022/10/13: Opposition will occur some time in December of 2022. Per earthsky.org, the date is December 8, 2022.

This web site offers an online orrery view of the Solar System: https://www.theplanetstoday.com/

===
Sol 347 is in Month 13 of a Proposed 24 month calendar. See Post 19 of Holidays topic for a summary.
Month 13 extends from Sol 335 through 362. <<== There are 28 days in Month 13. See post 82 of Holidays topic for current details.
Direct path to source: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257
Sol 347 is Friday in the Proposed Business calendar for Mars. Sol 339 is a Skip Day on Mars
##

The Next New Year's on Mars will occur when Solar Longitude reaches 360 degrees. <<== The current year on Mars is 37
Per www.planetary.org Year 36 started 2021/02/07 on Earth. Mars Year 37 began 2022/12/27 on Earth.

The last Skip Day occurred September 27, 2023 on Earth. A Skip Day occurs when the longer Mars Sol accumulates 24 Earth hours.
The next Skip day is expected November 2, 2023 (range 1 before >> 1 after) on Earth.

Count of days in current skip period: 39
Days of the Week Alignment:
Days of the week fall behind Earth due to the longer Sol, but they also change when Friday is omitted at the end of a Quarter
337 Earth days were observed to elapse in the 2020 weekday cycle. There were 7 week day transitions and 2 Quarter ends.
The next cycle began on the first Sol of the period of coincidence. The alignment of weekdays interval is in the range: (310 - 337)
To find the first day of a period of coincidence: Set up: SearchTerm(colon) and (colon)Alignment and J0036* or J0037*
The most recent End-Of-Quarter change occurred: … The search specified above gave 11 pages of results.

For current weather on Mars see:

***https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/weather/***
***Insight's weather info has been suspended and now is directing to msl*** <<-- Insight's mission is over (2022)

https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/weather/

Per SpaceNut: Here is another web page by NASA containing the latest news releases

https://mars.nasa.gov/news/?page=0&per_ … ope=Latest

All forum members are invited to post significant events for this day.
Events of interest will be ON Mars, or relate to Mars. Examples are launches, landings, discoveries

Standard Month in Mars Business Calendar Copyright ® 2023 NewMars.com Mars Society
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1    2    3    4    5    6    7
8    9 10    11 12 13 14
15 16 17    18 19 20 21
22 23 24    25 26 27 28

Recruiting text may be found at the bottom of this post: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257

Month 13 of 24: This is the first month of the 3rd Quarter and 2nd Half

tahanson43206 · 2023-12-19 07:08:37

===
Today on Mars: 0037/13/14 Saturday Days of the week offset 3 with Earth. (count from Mars to Earth (updated 2023/12/04)) Skip Day

Today on Earth: 2023/12/19 Tuesday (Earth Date) Post Title: Today on Mars [Aphelion occurred May 30, 2023 Earth Calendar]
====*=

Per http://www-mars.lmd.jussieu.fr/mars/tim … _time.html also see: in-the-sky.org for opposition/perigee/aphelion

Martian Year: 37 Martian Astronomical Month in 12 month format: 6 <<== The Astronomical month will increment when longitude reaches 180 degrees

===
Solar Longitude: 166.3 Sol Number: 348 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037348
Solar Longitude: 165.8 Sol Number: 347 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037347
Solar Longitude: 165.3 Sol Number: 346 Change in degrees is +.6 Julian date is: J0037346
==#

Note that Solar Longitude measurement varies as a function of location in orbit. Ls 0 is the moment when the Sun appears to transit from one hemisphere to the other. Update from Mars.NASA.gov (The Sun crosses the equator of Mars (Vernal Equinox)). The transition itself is a function of the tilt of an object with respect to the Solar plane. Per squarewidget.com, Hipparchus created the celestial coordinate system we use today.

Note#2: https://theskylive.com/mars-tracker This web site shows the astronomical position of Mars as seen from Earth
Todo: At next Aphelion/Perihelion record the Mars data J00##### (and set Search term)
Perihelion occurred at Ls 251 on Sol 485 - Earth Date 2022/06/21 Next: (estimated) 2024/05/08
Perihelion occurred at Ls 253 on Sol 485 Earth Date 2020/08/03 Earlier: 2018/09/16, 2016/10/29
Aphelion occurred at--- Ls 071 on Sol 152. Aphelion Earth Dates: Earlier: 2017/10/07, 2015/11/20
Aphelion occurred near Ls 070 on Sol 153 (per www.planetary.org)

Note#3: The computations below are dependent upon both the computations provided by the reference web site and by accuracy of recording of the time of observations. The calculations use tenths of hours. The Sun Distance needs to be captured at the moment the time increments to a given tenth.

Note on data below: The figure quoted after distance is a rate of progress along the orbital path [exact meaning to be determined]
Minus prefix means Mars is approaching the Sun. Plus prefix means Mars is moving away from the Sun.
The figure computed to the right of "Difference" is the rate of change of the distance to Sun. Increasing to Aphelion/Decreasing to Perihelion.

===
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 223,908,586 km [24.6 km/s] Difference is -194523 <= -8105 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/19 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 224,103,109 km [24.5 km/s] Difference is -194646 <= -8110 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/18 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 224,297,755 km [24.5 km/s] Difference is -194783 <= -8116 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/17 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
===*===*==

Observation: The sky view is ** filled ** with objects and some have been recorded and given identification by humans or their robot assistants
And! ** All ** the location assignments are from the perspective of Earth. The entire catalog needs to be adjusted when inter-stellar travel begins
The work that lies ahead for the astronomical community is daunting - there is work ahead for centuries
2022/01/19 - All current (existing) stellar catalogs are computed with reference to the Earth. Another civilization would use it's planet as reference.
Perhaps a Milky Way frame of reference will become necessary at some point. The Earth is as good a Zero point as any, for humans.

=== Mars is in Regular Movement as seen from Earth. Mars is progressing from upper right to lower left in the view from Earth.
Next up: Star below path: TYC 6811-313-1 RA 17h 08m 50.0s at far left Day 0 -
Next up: micro-Boomer above path HIP 83875 RA 17h 08m 33.3s – Day 0
TYC 6811-1150-1 RA 17h 06m 01.2s – Day 0 – Day 1 under 4.5-9 hour markers
====*====*===

Zoom Out Capability As a general observation ... I've become increasingly interested in knowing what the larger view of the sky might be like.
The site: theskylive.com does a terrific job of matching the view from Earth towards Mars, against a background of actual astronomical plates.
I wish there were a way (or rather, I wish I ** knew ** about a way that may exist) to enlarge the view until the entire galaxy is in view (Zoom out)
Update 2022/12/08 TheSkyLive.com provides a large view of selected objects: Select [Major Bodies] Then select [Information] in the body of interest
Update 2022/12/08 Scroll down to (body) Position and Finder Charts. Field of view is 50x30 degrees.

Note: The curve of the path of Mars as seen against the background of stars is now a line heading left at a downward angle.
As of 2023/01/11, the curve of the path has returned to regular movement to the left border

Light travel time today is between 21 and 22 minutes. Communications delay would be 42+ minutes round trip.

===
Earth Distance 2023/12/19 367,930,851 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/12/18 368,324,248 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/12/17 368,714,444 (decreasing)
#>

Light travel in one second is (about) 300,000 kilometers. The distance covered in one minute is about 18,000,000 kilometers. Estimated light times:
1:18, 2:36, 3:54, 4:72, 5:90, 6:108, 7:126, 8:144,9:162,10:180,11:198,12:216,13:234,14:252,15:270,16:288,17:306,18:324,19:342,20:360,21:378,22:396

Mars and Earth are moving apart after Opposition. Maximum Earth-Mars is estimated to be 401 kilometers (both at apogee and opposite vs Sun)
Mars and Earth were in Opposition (Earth center) in December of 2022. The date coincided with a (very rare) occultation of Mars by the Moon.
Mars and Earth were in Conjunction (Sun center) in November of 2023.
Mars and Earth appear to have been as close as they will get in this cycle. 81,454,323 kilometers on J0036644 Time: 4.53 minutes - 9 minutes round trip

In his online interview with Dr. Zubrin at the 2020 Mars Conference, Elon Musk reminded the audience that communications with Mars will necessarily include an intermediary station to handle traffic when the Sun is between Mars and Earth. Communications delays in that circumstance will increase due to the extra distance to be covered. Mr. Musk indicated he expects such communication will be handled by laser. Location would be optimum at poles of solar plane.

Regular movement of Mars as seen from Earth resumed as of 2023/01/13. RA is once again increasing.
According to www.hercampus.com, Retrograde movement began October 30, 2022.
The online solar system display at the link below shows clearly how the Mars movement will occur in months ahead.

This web site offers an online model of the solar system: www.solarsystemscope.com It requires Chrome 57, Firefox 52 or Safari 10.1. Viewed 2022/10/13: Opposition will occur some time in December of 2022. Per earthsky.org, the date is December 8, 2022.

This web site offers an online orrery view of the Solar System: https://www.theplanetstoday.com/

===
Sol 348 is in Month 13 of a Proposed 24 month calendar. See Post 19 of Holidays topic for a summary.
Month 13 extends from Sol 335 through 362. <<== There are 28 days in Month 13. See post 82 of Holidays topic for current details.
Direct path to source: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257
Sol 348 is Saturday in the Proposed Business calendar for Mars. Sol 339 is a Skip Day on Mars
##

The Next New Year's on Mars will occur when Solar Longitude reaches 360 degrees. <<== The current year on Mars is 37
Per www.planetary.org Year 36 started 2021/02/07 on Earth. Mars Year 37 began 2022/12/27 on Earth.

Days of the Week Alignment:
Days of the week fall behind Earth due to the longer Sol, but they also change when Friday is omitted at the end of a Quarter
337 Earth days were observed to elapse in the 2020 weekday cycle. There were 7 week day transitions and 2 Quarter ends.
The next cycle began on the first Sol of the period of coincidence. The alignment of weekdays interval is in the range: (310 - 337)
To find the first day of a period of coincidence: Set up: SearchTerm(colon) and (colon)Alignment and J0036* or J0037*
The most recent End-Of-Quarter change occurred: … The search specified above gave 11 pages of results.

For current weather on Mars see:

***https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/weather/***
***Insight's weather info has been suspended and now is directing to msl*** <<-- Insight's mission is over (2022)

https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/weather/

Per SpaceNut: Here is another web page by NASA containing the latest news releases

https://mars.nasa.gov/news/?page=0&per_ … ope=Latest

All forum members are invited to post significant events for this day.
Events of interest will be ON Mars, or relate to Mars. Examples are launches, landings, discoveries

Standard Month in Mars Business Calendar Copyright ® 2023 NewMars.com Mars Society
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1    2    3    4    5    6    7
8    9 10    11 12 13 14
15 16 17    18 19 20 21
22 23 24    25 26 27 28

Recruiting text may be found at the bottom of this post: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257

Month 13 of 24: This is the first month of the 3rd Quarter and 2nd Half

tahanson43206 · 2023-12-20 07:12:55

===
Today on Mars: 0037/13/15 Sunday Days of the week offset 3 with Earth. (count from Mars to Earth (updated 2023/12/04)) Skip Day

Today on Earth: 2023/12/20 Wednesday (Earth Date) Post Title: Today on Mars [Aphelion occurred May 30, 2023 Earth Calendar]
====*=

Per http://www-mars.lmd.jussieu.fr/mars/tim … _time.html also see: in-the-sky.org for opposition/perigee/aphelion

Martian Year: 37 Martian Astronomical Month in 12 month format: 6 <<== The Astronomical month will increment when longitude reaches 180 degrees

===
Solar Longitude: 166.9 Sol Number: 349 Change in degrees is +.6 Julian date is: J0037349
Solar Longitude: 166.3 Sol Number: 348 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037348
Solar Longitude: 165.8 Sol Number: 347 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037347
==#

Note that Solar Longitude measurement varies as a function of location in orbit. Ls 0 is the moment when the Sun appears to transit from one hemisphere to the other. Update from Mars.NASA.gov (The Sun crosses the equator of Mars (Vernal Equinox)). The transition itself is a function of the tilt of an object with respect to the Solar plane. Per squarewidget.com, Hipparchus created the celestial coordinate system we use today.

Note#2: https://theskylive.com/mars-tracker This web site shows the astronomical position of Mars as seen from Earth
Todo: At next Aphelion/Perihelion record the Mars data J00##### (and set Search term)
Perihelion occurred at Ls 251 on Sol 485 - Earth Date 2022/06/21 Next: (estimated) 2024/05/08
Perihelion occurred at Ls 253 on Sol 485 Earth Date 2020/08/03 Earlier: 2018/09/16, 2016/10/29
Aphelion occurred at--- Ls 071 on Sol 152. Aphelion Earth Dates: Earlier: 2017/10/07, 2015/11/20
Aphelion occurred near Ls 070 on Sol 153 (per www.planetary.org)

Note#3: The computations below are dependent upon both the computations provided by the reference web site and by accuracy of recording of the time of observations. The calculations use tenths of hours. The Sun Distance needs to be captured at the moment the time increments to a given tenth.

Note on data below: The figure quoted after distance is a rate of progress along the orbital path [exact meaning to be determined]
Minus prefix means Mars is approaching the Sun. Plus prefix means Mars is moving away from the Sun.
The figure computed to the right of "Difference" is the rate of change of the distance to Sun. Increasing to Aphelion/Decreasing to Perihelion.

===
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 223,714,185 km [24.6 km/s] Difference is -194401 <= -8100 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/20 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 223,908,586 km [24.6 km/s] Difference is -194523 <= -8105 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/19 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 224,103,109 km [24.5 km/s] Difference is -194646 <= -8110 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/18 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
===*===*==

Observation: The sky view is ** filled ** with objects and some have been recorded and given identification by humans or their robot assistants
And! ** All ** the location assignments are from the perspective of Earth. The entire catalog needs to be adjusted when inter-stellar travel begins
The work that lies ahead for the astronomical community is daunting - there is work ahead for centuries
2022/01/19 - All current (existing) stellar catalogs are computed with reference to the Earth. Another civilization would use it's planet as reference.
Perhaps a Milky Way frame of reference will become necessary at some point. The Earth is as good a Zero point as any, for humans.

=== Mars is in Regular Movement as seen from Earth. Mars is progressing from upper right to lower left in the view from Earth.
Nex up: Star in path ahead of 9 hours marker TYC 6812-519-1 RA 17h 11m 37.9s – Day 0 -
TYC 6811-313-1 RA 17h 08m 50.0s at far left Day 0 – Day 1 below 9 hours past marker – last day for 313
HIP 83875 RA 17h 08m 33.3s – Day 0 – Day 1 still visible past 9 hours past marker – last day for 875
====*====*===

Zoom Out Capability As a general observation ... I've become increasingly interested in knowing what the larger view of the sky might be like.
The site: theskylive.com does a terrific job of matching the view from Earth towards Mars, against a background of actual astronomical plates.
I wish there were a way (or rather, I wish I ** knew ** about a way that may exist) to enlarge the view until the entire galaxy is in view (Zoom out)
Update 2022/12/08 TheSkyLive.com provides a large view of selected objects: Select [Major Bodies] Then select [Information] in the body of interest
Update 2022/12/08 Scroll down to (body) Position and Finder Charts. Field of view is 50x30 degrees.

Note: The curve of the path of Mars as seen against the background of stars is now a line heading left at a downward angle.
As of 2023/01/11, the curve of the path has returned to regular movement to the left border

Light travel time today is between 21 and 22 minutes. Communications delay would be 42+ minutes round trip.

===
Earth Distance 2023/12/20 367,535,555 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/12/19 367,930,851 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/12/18 368,324,248 (decreasing)
#>

Light travel in one second is (about) 300,000 kilometers. The distance covered in one minute is about 18,000,000 kilometers. Estimated light times:
1:18, 2:36, 3:54, 4:72, 5:90, 6:108, 7:126, 8:144,9:162,10:180,11:198,12:216,13:234,14:252,15:270,16:288,17:306,18:324,19:342,20:360,21:378,22:396

Mars and Earth are moving apart after Opposition. Maximum Earth-Mars is estimated to be 401 kilometers (both at apogee and opposite vs Sun)
Mars and Earth were in Opposition (Earth center) in December of 2022. The date coincided with a (very rare) occultation of Mars by the Moon.
Mars and Earth were in Conjunction (Sun center) in November of 2023.
Mars and Earth appear to have been as close as they will get in this cycle. 81,454,323 kilometers on J0036644 Time: 4.53 minutes - 9 minutes round trip

In his online interview with Dr. Zubrin at the 2020 Mars Conference, Elon Musk reminded the audience that communications with Mars will necessarily include an intermediary station to handle traffic when the Sun is between Mars and Earth. Communications delays in that circumstance will increase due to the extra distance to be covered. Mr. Musk indicated he expects such communication will be handled by laser. Location would be optimum at poles of solar plane.

Regular movement of Mars as seen from Earth resumed as of 2023/01/13. RA is once again increasing.
According to www.hercampus.com, Retrograde movement began October 30, 2022.
The online solar system display at the link below shows clearly how the Mars movement will occur in months ahead.

This web site offers an online model of the solar system: www.solarsystemscope.com It requires Chrome 57, Firefox 52 or Safari 10.1. Viewed 2022/10/13: Opposition will occur some time in December of 2022. Per earthsky.org, the date is December 8, 2022.

This web site offers an online orrery view of the Solar System: https://www.theplanetstoday.com/

===
Sol 349 is in Month 13 of a Proposed 24 month calendar. See Post 19 of Holidays topic for a summary.
Month 13 extends from Sol 335 through 362. <<== There are 28 days in Month 13. See post 82 of Holidays topic for current details.
Direct path to source: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257
Sol 349 is Sunday in the Proposed Business calendar for Mars. Sol 339 is a Skip Day on Mars
##

The Next New Year's on Mars will occur when Solar Longitude reaches 360 degrees. <<== The current year on Mars is 37
Per www.planetary.org Year 36 started 2021/02/07 on Earth. Mars Year 37 began 2022/12/27 on Earth.

Days of the Week Alignment:
Days of the week fall behind Earth due to the longer Sol, but they also change when Friday is omitted at the end of a Quarter
337 Earth days were observed to elapse in the 2020 weekday cycle. There were 7 week day transitions and 2 Quarter ends.
The next cycle began on the first Sol of the period of coincidence. The alignment of weekdays interval is in the range: (310 - 337)
To find the first day of a period of coincidence: Set up: SearchTerm(colon) and (colon)Alignment and J0036* or J0037*
The most recent End-Of-Quarter change occurred: … The search specified above gave 11 pages of results.

For current weather on Mars see:

***https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/weather/***
***Insight's weather info has been suspended and now is directing to msl*** <<-- Insight's mission is over (2022)

https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/weather/

Per SpaceNut: Here is another web page by NASA containing the latest news releases

https://mars.nasa.gov/news/?page=0&per_ … ope=Latest

All forum members are invited to post significant events for this day.
Events of interest will be ON Mars, or relate to Mars. Examples are launches, landings, discoveries

Standard Month in Mars Business Calendar Copyright ® 2023 NewMars.com Mars Society
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1    2    3    4    5    6    7
8    9 10    11 12 13 14
15 16 17    18 19 20 21
22 23 24    25 26 27 28

Recruiting text may be found at the bottom of this post: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257

Month 13 of 24: This is the first month of the 3rd Quarter and 2nd Half

SpaceNut · 2023-12-20 18:14:23

Who would have known that a topic started by JammerG55 back in 2004-02-18 would be picked up by tahanson43206 on 2019-03-16 to become a stable clock for a mars journey. For planning work and fun along the journey as well as for on the surface of mars to conduct business with.
There is not much chance to finding a lost civilization on mars but it's still happening here on earth. Discovery of 'calendar' rock carvings from Ancestral Pueblo in US Southwest surpasses 'wildest expectations'

AA1lOAYp.img?w=768&h=432&m=6

The Ancestral Pueblo were a group of Indigenous peoples who inhabited the Castle Rock Pueblo from about the 1250s to 1274, according to a 2020 study in the journal Antiquity.

it is unbelievable that we can still find such things.

tahanson43206 · 2023-12-21 07:14:18

===
Today on Mars: 0037/13/16 Monday Days of the week offset 3 with Earth. (count from Mars to Earth (updated 2023/12/04)) Skip Day

Today on Earth: 2023/12/21 Thursday (Earth Date) Post Title: Today on Mars [Aphelion occurred May 30, 2023 Earth Calendar]
====*=

Per http://www-mars.lmd.jussieu.fr/mars/tim … _time.html also see: in-the-sky.org for opposition/perigee/aphelion

Martian Year: 37 Martian Astronomical Month in 12 month format: 6 <<== The Astronomical month will increment when longitude reaches 180 degrees

===
Solar Longitude: 167.4 Sol Number: 350 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037350
Solar Longitude: 166.9 Sol Number: 349 Change in degrees is +.6 Julian date is: J0037349
Solar Longitude: 166.3 Sol Number: 348 Change in degrees is +.5 Julian date is: J0037348
==#

Note that Solar Longitude measurement varies as a function of location in orbit. Ls 0 is the moment when the Sun appears to transit from one hemisphere to the other. Update from Mars.NASA.gov (The Sun crosses the equator of Mars (Vernal Equinox)). The transition itself is a function of the tilt of an object with respect to the Solar plane. Per squarewidget.com, Hipparchus created the celestial coordinate system we use today.

Note#2: https://theskylive.com/mars-tracker This web site shows the astronomical position of Mars as seen from Earth
Todo: At next Aphelion/Perihelion record the Mars data J00##### (and set Search term)
Perihelion occurred at Ls 251 on Sol 485 - Earth Date 2022/06/21 Next: (estimated) 2024/05/08
Perihelion occurred at Ls 253 on Sol 485 Earth Date 2020/08/03 Earlier: 2018/09/16, 2016/10/29
Aphelion occurred at--- Ls 071 on Sol 152. Aphelion Earth Dates: Earlier: 2017/10/07, 2015/11/20
Aphelion occurred near Ls 070 on Sol 153 (per www.planetary.org)

Note#3: The computations below are dependent upon both the computations provided by the reference web site and by accuracy of recording of the time of observations. The calculations use tenths of hours. The Sun Distance needs to be captured at the moment the time increments to a given tenth.

Note on data below: The figure quoted after distance is a rate of progress along the orbital path [exact meaning to be determined]
Minus prefix means Mars is approaching the Sun. Plus prefix means Mars is moving away from the Sun.
The figure computed to the right of "Difference" is the rate of change of the distance to Sun. Increasing to Aphelion/Decreasing to Perihelion.

===
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 223,520,123 km [24.6 km/s] Difference is -194062 <= -8086 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/21 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 223,714,185 km [24.6 km/s] Difference is -194401 <= -8100 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/20 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
Distance: Mars >> Sun per theskylive.com: 223,908,586 km [24.6 km/s] Difference is -194523 <= -8105 km/hour at 08.0 on 12/19 (time 8:00) (24 hours)
===*===*==

Observation: The sky view is ** filled ** with objects and some have been recorded and given identification by humans or their robot assistants
And! ** All ** the location assignments are from the perspective of Earth. The entire catalog needs to be adjusted when inter-stellar travel begins
The work that lies ahead for the astronomical community is daunting - there is work ahead for centuries
2022/01/19 - All current (existing) stellar catalogs are computed with reference to the Earth. Another civilization would use it's planet as reference.
Perhaps a Milky Way frame of reference will become necessary at some point. The Earth is as good a Zero point as any, for humans.

=== Mars is in Regular Movement as seen from Earth. Mars is progressing from upper right to lower left in the view from Earth. Slant 10 degrees.
Next up: Star just above path at far left: TYC 6812-591-1 RA 17h 14m 46.6s Day 0 -
TYC 6812-519-1 RA 17h 11m 37.9s – Day 0 – Day 1 Past 9 hours past marker – last day for 519
====*====*===

Zoom Out Capability As a general observation ... I've become increasingly interested in knowing what the larger view of the sky might be like.
The site: theskylive.com does a terrific job of matching the view from Earth towards Mars, against a background of actual astronomical plates.
I wish there were a way (or rather, I wish I ** knew ** about a way that may exist) to enlarge the view until the entire galaxy is in view (Zoom out)
Update 2022/12/08 TheSkyLive.com provides a large view of selected objects: Select [Major Bodies] Then select [Information] in the body of interest
Update 2022/12/08 Scroll down to (body) Position and Finder Charts. Field of view is 50x30 degrees.

Note: The curve of the path of Mars as seen against the background of stars is now a line heading left at a downward angle.
As of 2023/01/11, the curve of the path has returned to regular movement to the left border

Light travel time today is between 21 and 22 minutes. Communications delay would be 42+ minutes round trip.

===
Earth Distance 2023/12/21 367,104,444 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/12/20 367,535,555 (decreasing)
Earth Distance 2023/12/19 367,930,851 (decreasing)
#>

Light travel in one second is (about) 300,000 kilometers. The distance covered in one minute is about 18,000,000 kilometers. Estimated light times:
1:18, 2:36, 3:54, 4:72, 5:90, 6:108, 7:126, 8:144,9:162,10:180,11:198,12:216,13:234,14:252,15:270,16:288,17:306,18:324,19:342,20:360,21:378,22:396

Mars and Earth are moving apart after Opposition. Maximum Earth-Mars is estimated to be 401 kilometers (both at apogee and opposite vs Sun)
Mars and Earth were in Opposition (Earth center) in December of 2022. The date coincided with a (very rare) occultation of Mars by the Moon.
Mars and Earth were in Conjunction (Sun center) in November of 2023.
Mars and Earth appear to have been as close as they will get in this cycle. 81,454,323 kilometers on J0036644 Time: 4.53 minutes - 9 minutes round trip

In his online interview with Dr. Zubrin at the 2020 Mars Conference, Elon Musk reminded the audience that communications with Mars will necessarily include an intermediary station to handle traffic when the Sun is between Mars and Earth. Communications delays in that circumstance will increase due to the extra distance to be covered. Mr. Musk indicated he expects such communication will be handled by laser. Location would be optimum at poles of solar plane.

Regular movement of Mars as seen from Earth resumed as of 2023/01/13. RA is once again increasing.
According to www.hercampus.com, Retrograde movement began October 30, 2022.
The online solar system display at the link below shows clearly how the Mars movement will occur in months ahead.

This web site offers an online model of the solar system: www.solarsystemscope.com It requires Chrome 57, Firefox 52 or Safari 10.1. Viewed 2022/10/13: Opposition will occur some time in December of 2022. Per earthsky.org, the date is December 8, 2022.

This web site offers an online orrery view of the Solar System: https://www.theplanetstoday.com/

===
Sol 350 is in Month 13 of a Proposed 24 month calendar. See Post 19 of Holidays topic for a summary.
Month 13 extends from Sol 335 through 362. <<== There are 28 days in Month 13. See post 82 of Holidays topic for current details.
Direct path to source: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257
Sol 350 is Monday in the Proposed Business calendar for Mars. Sol 339 is a Skip Day on Mars
##

The Next New Year's on Mars will occur when Solar Longitude reaches 360 degrees. <<== The current year on Mars is 37
Per www.planetary.org Year 36 started 2021/02/07 on Earth. Mars Year 37 began 2022/12/27 on Earth.

Days of the Week Alignment:
Days of the week fall behind Earth due to the longer Sol, but they also change when Friday is omitted at the end of a Quarter
337 Earth days were observed to elapse in the 2020 weekday cycle. There were 7 week day transitions and 2 Quarter ends.
The next cycle began on the first Sol of the period of coincidence. The alignment of weekdays interval is in the range: (310 - 337)
To find the first day of a period of coincidence: Set up: SearchTerm(colon) and (colon)Alignment and J0036* or J0037*
The most recent End-Of-Quarter change occurred: … The search specified above gave 11 pages of results.

For current weather on Mars see:

***https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/weather/***
***Insight's weather info has been suspended and now is directing to msl*** <<-- Insight's mission is over (2022)

https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/weather/

Per SpaceNut: Here is another web page by NASA containing the latest news releases

https://mars.nasa.gov/news/?page=0&per_ … ope=Latest

All forum members are invited to post significant events for this day.
Events of interest will be ON Mars, or relate to Mars. Examples are launches, landings, discoveries

Standard Month in Mars Business Calendar Copyright ® 2023 NewMars.com Mars Society
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1    2    3    4    5    6    7
8    9 10    11 12 13 14
15 16 17    18 19 20 21
22 23 24    25 26 27 28

Recruiting text may be found at the bottom of this post: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 57#p154257

Month 13 of 24: This is the first month of the 3rd Quarter and 2nd Half

New Mars Forums

Announcement

#2026 2023-11-30 07:15:34

Re: Martian Calender - I have created a martian calender...

#2027 2023-12-01 07:11:02

Re: Martian Calender - I have created a martian calender...

#2028 2023-12-02 07:10:07

Re: Martian Calender - I have created a martian calender...

#2029 2023-12-02 08:01:17

Re: Martian Calender - I have created a martian calender...

#2030 2023-12-03 07:10:05

Re: Martian Calender - I have created a martian calender...

#2031 2023-12-04 07:22:16

Re: Martian Calender - I have created a martian calender...

#2032 2023-12-05 07:12:20

Re: Martian Calender - I have created a martian calender...

#2033 2023-12-05 07:16:01

Re: Martian Calender - I have created a martian calender...

#2034 2023-12-06 07:16:07

Re: Martian Calender - I have created a martian calender...

#2035 2023-12-07 07:19:14

Re: Martian Calender - I have created a martian calender...

#2036 2023-12-08 07:14:09

Re: Martian Calender - I have created a martian calender...

#2037 2023-12-09 07:04:57

Re: Martian Calender - I have created a martian calender...

#2038 2023-12-10 07:09:04

Re: Martian Calender - I have created a martian calender...

#2039 2023-12-11 07:09:43

Re: Martian Calender - I have created a martian calender...

#2040 2023-12-12 07:22:27

Re: Martian Calender - I have created a martian calender...

#2041 2023-12-13 07:17:51

Re: Martian Calender - I have created a martian calender...

#2042 2023-12-14 07:13:35

Re: Martian Calender - I have created a martian calender...

#2043 2023-12-15 07:12:55

Re: Martian Calender - I have created a martian calender...

#2044 2023-12-16 07:12:11

Re: Martian Calender - I have created a martian calender...

#2045 2023-12-17 07:11:45

Re: Martian Calender - I have created a martian calender...

#2046 2023-12-18 08:35:45

Re: Martian Calender - I have created a martian calender...

#2047 2023-12-19 07:08:37

Re: Martian Calender - I have created a martian calender...

#2048 2023-12-20 07:12:55

Re: Martian Calender - I have created a martian calender...

#2049 2023-12-20 18:14:23

Re: Martian Calender - I have created a martian calender...

#2050 2023-12-21 07:14:18

Re: Martian Calender - I have created a martian calender...

Board footer