The Tamworth Astronomy Club are opening the skies up to the public, as the Red Planet makes its closest arc to the earth in 17 years.
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The club will be setting up at least six telescopes at Victoria Park near the Botanical Gardens on Saturday night, and inviting the public to an open night of sky gazing, with Mars the feature event.
Club president Leigh Tschirpig said that this weekend is one of the best opportunities in 17 years for people to get a really good look at Mars, as well as several other planets.
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“Every two years Mars and Earth come reasonably close together, but every 15 to 17 years they become particularly close,” he said.
“This is the closest they have been since 2003, and it won’t happen again until 2035.
“We should be able to see some of the darker features of Mars, as well as the white polar caps, which are made up of C02.”
What makes this weekend so perfect is that Venus, Jupiter and Saturn are also clearly visible from Earth at the moment.
While the public will be able to circulate around the telescopes and be directed to view each planet, there will also be a live screening of Mars on a huge projector, as well as some educational videos playing about Mars, the other planets and astronomy in general.
“Mars is a very interesting planet, that captures people’s imaginations,” Mr Tschirpig said.
“It is a rocky desert world about half the size of Earth with a very thin atmosphere, and while we both share days that are about 24 hours long, a year on Mars is two years on Earth.”
While the Mars Public Viewing Night is free anyone interested is asked to book via the club’s website.
Earlier this year Tamworth Regional Council were awarded a grant of $1.8 million to build a state-of-the-art astronomy centre and observatory on the Victoria Park site.
The centre will contain a roll-off roof observatory, a separate science centre capable of holding up to 200 people, as well as a separate building to house one of only two Hewitt Cameras in Australia.
It is hoped the centre will be complete and operational by the end of 2019.
