"Like that back-ordered telescope we've been waiting months to receive, the truck has finally arrived and delivered Mars to our doorstep. Impressively bright at magnitude –1.8, it rises in Taurus in the scintillating company of the Winter Hexagon gang. Despite this not being a particularly close opposition, the Red Planet sails high in the sky, where improved better atmospheric seeing helps to compensate for its relatively small apparent diameter. ...”
This map of Mars's surface shows key features visible during the planet's last opposition in 2020. Winds and dust storms, which recirculate topsoil, can alter the appearance of albedo markings at each opposition. Giovanni Schiaparelli, a 19th-century Italian astronomer, invented the Martian nomenclature, basing it on place names from ancient history and mythology.
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