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Nov.
21, 2007: During the past month, Mars has doubled
in brightness and it is putting on a nice show for backyard
stargazers.
 "Mars
is starting to look really nice through my 10-inch telescope,"
reports amateur astronomer Friedrich Deters of LaGrange, North
Carolina, who took the picture at right on Nov. 17th.
"Very
nice!" agrees Dan Peterson of Racine, Wisconsin, who
captured a similar
snapshot the next night.
The
blue polar swirl in these pictures is the "North Polar
Hood"—a giant icy cloud that forms over the Martian north
pole during winter. Why blue? That's the color of sunlight
scattered from very tiny crystals of ice (smaller than the
wavelength of light itself) floating in the cloud. The blue
hood vs. Mars' red terrain appear in pleasing contrast through
any mid-sized backyard telescope.
You
don't need a telescope to enjoy Mars, however. It is plainly
visible to the naked eye, bright and red, standing out among
the pale stars of Gemini as something definitely different.
Finding
the constellation and the planet within is child's play on
Nov. 26th and 27th. That's when the nearly full Moon glides
past Mars, only one degree away, and draws attention to the
pair. If you can find the full Moon, you can find Mars. Look
east before bedtime on Monday evening, Nov. 26th, or west
before dawn on Tuesday morning, Nov. 27th.
Take
a cup of coffee outside on Nov. 27th and spend some time sipping
it while the sun rises and a hint of blue infuses the twilight
sky. The sight of the silver Moon and red Mars backlit by
blue sky is breathtaking. Sky maps: Nov.
26, Nov.
27.
Why
has Mars gotten so bright and attractive? It's because Earth
and Mars are converging.
At closest approach on Dec. 18th, the two worlds will lie
only 55 million miles apart. That may sound like a great distance,
but it is just a hop, skip and a jump on the vast scale of
the solar system. NASA is taking advantage of the close encounter
to send a new mission to Mars: the Phoenix Lander. Phoenix
launched in August 2007 and is due to reach Mars in May 2008,
joining the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity already there.
Take
a look at Mars: If it is this good now, what will it be like
in December? Stay tuned!
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Author: Dr.
Tony Phillips | Production Editor:
Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA
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