Mars At Its Best

Approximately once every two years, the planets Earth and Mars bump shoulders - so to speak - in their respective orbits around the Sun. For a brief period of time the planets are as close as they can get to each other, and Mars appears as big and bright in our sky as it ever gets. At this time Mars, like the full Moon, rises in the east just as the Sun sets in the west, and approximately 12 hours later, in the dawn's early light, the planet sets in the west, just as the Sun rises again in the east. At this time Mars is said to be at opposition, because it appears directly opposite the Sun in our sky. Because it is so close, this is the best time to view the red planet - and this time is right now.

The orrery below shows the current relative positions of the planets in our solar system, with Mars at opposition.

Mars appears so bright in a telescope right now, it is necessary to use some sort of filter to view the planet, or, like the full Moon, it will be just a bright blur in your eyepiece. If you have no filters, you can simply hold your hand over the end of your scope, and spread your fingers just enough to see the planet clearly. Wait until it climbs up out of the horizon haze, and with a little luck you should be able to make out the polar ice caps of Mars. With a little more luck, you might even catch a dust storm in progress.

So make the effort. Get up off the couch, and expand your consciousness. You won't get another chance for another two years.

Mars - seen by the Hubble Space Telescope

The Sun is in Aquarius.

Current Solar Flare (X-ray) activity : Current Status of Solar Geomagnetic Field :

(Updated every ten minutes from the NOAA Space Environment Center through n3kl.org.)

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	Sunday, Mar 7	Monday, Mar 8	Tuesday, Mar 9	Wednesday, Mar 10	Thursday, Mar 11	Friday, Mar 12	Saturday, Mar 13
Sunrise	6:39 am	6:38 am	6:37 am	6:36 am	6:35 am	6:33 am	6:32 am
Sunset	6:23 pm	6:24 pm	6:24 pm	6:25 pm	6:26 pm	6:26 pm	6:27 pm
Moonrise	1:07 am	2:00 am	2:47 am	3:29 am	4:06 am	4:39 am	5:06 am
Moonset	11:20 am	12:14 pm	1:09 pm	2:04 pm	3:00 pm	3:54 pm	4:47 pm
Moon Phases

Current Morning Star(s):	Arcturus (mag -.04)- high in the west.	Current Evening Star(s):	Mars (mag -1.1) and Sirius (mag -1.6) - in the east.

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Previously in Mexican Skies...

Jan 18 Which Way Is Up?	June 7 Saturn's Rings Disappear	Nov 29 Mexican Skies vs American Skies

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