60 lines
3.5 KiB
Plaintext
60 lines
3.5 KiB
Plaintext
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13-Feb-88 01:53 MST
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Sb: APn 02/03 1227 Mars Mania
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Copyright, 1988. The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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By RICHARD COLE Associated Press Writer
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MIAMI (AP) -- This year, Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in a
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generation, and astronomers say the red planet's appearance in the night sky
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may be the astronomical event of 1988.
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As if to demonstrate the heavens have a sense of humor, the height of the
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show comes in September, just shy of the 50th anniversary of Orson Welles' 1938
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"War of the Worlds" broadcast that panicked the nation with fictional reports
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of invaders from Mars.
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"I see 1988 as a great Martian adventure," said Jack Horkheimer, the aptly
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named "Star Hustler" of the Public Broadcasting System and executive director
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of Miami's Space Transit Planetarium. "I'm like a kid in a candy store."
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When Mars is at its closest on Sept. 21 -- just over 36 million miles away
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-- it will rival Jupiter as the brightest object in the sky after the Moon and
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Venus.
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"It won't be this close again until 2003," says Horkheimer. "And there are a
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lot of kids out there who have never seen it this bright."
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Unlike the comets Halley and Kohoutek, Mars will not disappoint viewers,
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because its brightness is more predictable and the planet will be easily
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visible from almost everywhere.
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He expects a spate of UFO sightings to accompany Mars' visit as people
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unaccustomed to the unblinking reddish-orange light in the night sky mistake it
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for more exotic extraterrestrial visitors.
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Like planetarium directors around the nation, Horkheimer is preparing a
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series of Mars shows he promises will "knock your socks off."
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One involves a snazzy computerized simulation of a flight through the
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planet's gigantic 2,500-mile-long version of the Grand Canyon. Another centers
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around an 18-mile-high mountain -- three times higher than Mount Everest --
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capped by a crater the size of Georgia.
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He also is bringing to the planetarium a new telescope nicknamed "Awesome
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Orson" in honor of the late Welles' broadcast and girth.
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Although Earth passes Mars every two years, it is only every 15 to 17 years
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that the orbits of the third and fourth planets bring them as close together as
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in 1988. The year began with Earth and Mars separated by 200 million miles.
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The close encounter comes four years before a scheduled Mars probe by the
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Soviet Union.
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The Soviet plan to have the probes bring back Martian soil, and perhaps,
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Horkheimer said, settle the most intriguing question about Earth's neighbor --
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whether life once existed on the now cold and arid desert planet.
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U.S. Mars landers in the 1970s tried to answer that question, but the
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chemical soil test results beamed back to Earth were inconclusive.
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"I really hope that they find fossilized signs of life," he said. "We know
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that there was water on Mars."
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Horkheimer said he also hopes the Soviet probes will spur the United States
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to revive its own space program, with a manned landing on Mars.
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"We could be on Mars easily within a decade or so," he said. "The technology
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already exisits. What is missing is the money." And the funds will be available
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only when the public once again supports spending the billions of dollars in
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funding a Martian landing would require.
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If the political situation allows it, a joint U.S.-Soviet mission to Mars
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could ease the financial burden on both countries, he said.
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It also could promote peace between the two rivals -- an ironic benefit from
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a planet named after the Roman god of war.
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