In what year, marked by a close opposition, did Giovanni Schiaparelli begin charting the Martian surface features he called *canali*?

Answer

1877

The story of the canals is generally considered to begin in 1877 when a close opposition brought Mars closer to Earth, allowing Schiaparelli to make his key observations.

In what year, marked by a close opposition, did Giovanni Schiaparelli begin charting the Martian surface features he called *canali*?
discoveryMarsscientistAstronomerCanal