The Earth will be directly in between Mars and the sun on April 8, an arrangement known as opposition.
Circumstances of the opposition:
- Right Ascension of Mars: 13h 14m
- Declination: -05°08'
- Distance, Mars-Earth: 0.621 AU
Mars revolves around the sun in a little less than 687 Earth days, or 1.88 years. It will next be in opposition on May 22, 2016.
A feature about the opposition of Mars, also a “close approach” of the planet, can be found on NASA’s site, here. Because the orbits of Mars and Earth are elliptical, not circular, the minimum distance of about 92 million km occurs on April 14. If the orbits were perfect circles, the opposition would occur at the point when Mars and Earth were at the minimum distance.
On the night after the closest approach of Mars, i.e. on Monday-Tuesday, April 14-15, a total eclipse of the moon will occur. Its duration will be 3 hours 35 minutes, and it will be visible from points in Australia, the Pacific Ocean, and the Americas.
- Penumbral Eclipse Begins: 04:53:37 UT (12:53 AM EDT)
- Partial Eclipse Begins: 05:58:19 UT (1:58 AM EDT)
- Total Eclipse Begins: 07:06:47 UT (3:06 AM EDT)
- Greatest Eclipse: 07:45:40 UT (3:45 AM EDT)
- Total Eclipse Ends: 08:24:35 UT (4:24 AM EDT)
- Partial Eclipse Ends: 09:33:04 UT (5:33 AM EDT)
- Penumbral Eclipse Ends: 10:37:37 UT (6:37 AM EDT)
