Arab Tourism Organization Recognizes Marbella as Top Destination for Arab Tourists, Honors its Mayor

During a meeting Al-Fuhaid and Munoz discussed various aspects of mutual cooperation. SPA
During a meeting Al-Fuhaid and Munoz discussed various aspects of mutual cooperation. SPA
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Arab Tourism Organization Recognizes Marbella as Top Destination for Arab Tourists, Honors its Mayor

During a meeting Al-Fuhaid and Munoz discussed various aspects of mutual cooperation. SPA
During a meeting Al-Fuhaid and Munoz discussed various aspects of mutual cooperation. SPA

President of the Arab Tourism Organization Dr. Bandar bin Fahd Al-Fuhaid has recognized Spain’s Marbella city as a top destination for Arab visitors and honored its Mayor, Angeles Munoz, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported Sunday.

During a meeting, Al-Fuhaid and Munoz discussed various aspects of mutual cooperation, including the exchange of expertise in the quality of tourism services, the training and qualification of tourism sector workers, and the increase of tourism investments, SPA said.

Al-Fuhaid said the organization is mulling, in partnership with the Arab Academy for Science, Technology, and Maritime Transport (AASTMT), to establish a training and development academy in Marbella.

The goal is to enhance the skills and qualifications of Arab youth for careers in tourism by leveraging Spain's extensive experience, which is recognized as one of the world's leading countries in the tourism sector, SPA added.



Mars and Jupiter Get Chummy in the Night Sky. The Planets Won’t Get This Close Again until 2033

 This combination image, created from two photos provided by NASA, shows Jupiter pictured on April 3, 2017, left, and Mars pictured on Aug. 26, 2003, right. (NASA via AP)
This combination image, created from two photos provided by NASA, shows Jupiter pictured on April 3, 2017, left, and Mars pictured on Aug. 26, 2003, right. (NASA via AP)
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Mars and Jupiter Get Chummy in the Night Sky. The Planets Won’t Get This Close Again until 2033

 This combination image, created from two photos provided by NASA, shows Jupiter pictured on April 3, 2017, left, and Mars pictured on Aug. 26, 2003, right. (NASA via AP)
This combination image, created from two photos provided by NASA, shows Jupiter pictured on April 3, 2017, left, and Mars pictured on Aug. 26, 2003, right. (NASA via AP)

Mars and Jupiter are cozying up in the night sky for their closest rendezvous this decade.

They’ll be so close Wednesday, at least from our perspective, that just a sliver of moon could fit between them. In reality, our solar system’s biggest planet and its dimmer, reddish neighbor will be more than 350 million miles (575 million kilometers) apart in their respective orbits.

The two planets will reach their minimum separation — one-third of 1 degree or about one-third the width of the moon — during daylight hours Wednesday in most of the Americas, Europe and Africa. But they won’t appear that much different hours or even a day earlier when the sky is dark, said Jon Giorgini of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.

The best views will be in the eastern sky, toward constellation Taurus, before daybreak. Known as planetary conjunctions, these comic pairings happen only every three years or so.

"Such events are mostly items of curiosity and beauty for those watching the sky, wondering what the two bright objects so close together might be," he said in an email. "The science is in the ability to accurately predict the events years in advance."

Their orbits haven’t brought them this close together, one behind the other, since 2018. And it won’t happen again until 2033, when they’ll get even chummier.

The closest in the past 1,000 years was in 1761, when Mars and Jupiter appeared to the naked eye as a single bright object, according to Giorgini. Looking ahead, the year 2348 will be almost as close.

This latest link up of Mars and Jupiter coincides with the Perseid meteor shower, one of the year's brightest showers. No binoculars or telescopes are needed.