Abstract
THE OPPOSITION OF MARS, 1877.—The present opposition of the planet Mars offers conditions so nearly analogous to those of the opposition in 1862, that the many fine drawings made in that year, a number of which are contained in vol. xxxii. of the “Memoirs” of the Royal Astronomical Society, become available for comparison with such as may be made during the actual opposition. The same hemisphere of the planet is presented to the earth, and our depression from the martial equator is sensibly the same; thus, at opposition in 1862 the angle of position of the visible (southern) pole was 145°.3 and the earth's depression —22°.7, while at the opposition of 1877 the figures are respectively 160°.3 and —22°.5. The least distance of Mars from the earth in 1862 was 0.406, while in 1877 it is 0.377.
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Our Astronomical Column . Nature 16, 341 (1877). https://doi.org/10.1038/016341b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/016341b0