Why do oppositions of Mars stir such interest among amateur ...

[bobthebuilder]

Why do oppositions of Mars stir such interest among amateur astronomers?
 
  What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

What is the primary purpose of an astronomical telescope?
 
  A) to magnify and make distant objects appear closer
  B) to separate light into its component colors
  C) to measure the intensity of light very accurately
  D) to access wavelengths that we cannot see visually
  E) to collect a lot of light and bring it to a focus

[guyanai]

Answer to Question 1

Mars is small, and most of the time so distant from Earth that amateur telescopes have a problem seeing anything but an orange disk. But when the Earth overtakes Mars every 2.2 years, Mars gets close enough to us to appear much larger and to show a good deal of surface features and atmospheric clouds, polar caps, and dust storms.

Answer to Question 2

E

[bobthebuilder]

Thanks for the timely response, appreciate it

[Dinolord]

Great answer, keep it coming