Mars Movies

(Movies relate to 2003 rather than 2005 but still illustrate the changing size of the Martian disk)

	This animation shows how Mars swelled in apparent size (diameter) between 2003 June and August. June 1:  Diam. 12.4 arc sec, mag. -0.7, Dist. from Earth 70.1 million mi (112.8 million km) Aug. 31: Diam. 25.1 arc sec, mag. -2.9, Dist. from Earth 37.4 million mi (55.9 million km) During these three months, the apparent diameter of Mars doubled as the distance between Earth and Mars approximately halved. This also increased the apparent brightness of Mars 2.2 magnitudes or nearly eight times! [Animation courtesy of Celestial Delights Online by Francis Reddy]
To see complete movies (in AVI or MOV format) for 2003: For all of 2003 (Mars 2003: The View from Earth) or Orientation of Martian surface features at every hour on August 27 (Mars 2003: Night of the Red Planet) Go to Celestial Delights Downloads & Site Notes
2003 Mars Rotation Animation. (Mars rotates in 24h37m, only slightly longer than Earth's 23h56m period)	MARS ROTATION ANIMATION This animation shows the rotation of Mars between 2003 August 28, 01:40 to 04:15 UT Animation by Chris from his home on the south coast of Spain& (link no longer known). Animation made from 4,000 CCD images (exposure 0.08 sec each) 2003 August 28 between 01:40 and 04:15 UT. No images discarded and each animation frame an average of 100 images. [Animation by Chris from his home on the south coast of Spain] (Link no longer known)

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Last Updated July 27, 2005

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