Mars, Earth and sun to align in rare space event known as ‘an opposition’
A RARE space event will happen this week when Mars will be exactly opposite the sun to Earth in a phenomenon known as a cosmic alignment.
A RARE space event will happen this week when Mars will be exactly opposite the sun to the Earth.
The cosmic alignment, known as an opposition, will take place on Wednesday April 8.
On the day of opposition, Mars, Earth and the sun fall on a straight line.
While Mars’ orbit of the sun is more elliptical (oval-shaped) than the Earth’s, our planet is closer to the sun, meaning it completes its orbit in 365 days, compared to 687 days for Mars.
These differences mean an opposition is rare, occurring about once every couple of years.
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