| Mars & Perseids Meteor shower
Hi,
Mars Currently rises around 9.30pm in the Eastern sky, in the constellation of Aries. It won't really be observable until it has 10 degrees of altitude, about 3/4 hour later, but it will rise a couple of minutes earlier each night until Aries crosses the Meridian. It will brighten until November when it's orbit causes it to recede from the earth, and it will then grow dimmer, (it will be at its closest on Oct. 30th) Until then however (barring the Sun and tje Moon, it will be the brightest object in the sky, and a beautiful deep orange colour. You really need very steady atmospheric conditions and at least 100X magnification to see much as it is very small. Even at 200X, you'll only just make out the polar caps, and if you're really lucky some darker markings such as the huge caldera of the volcano, Olympus Mons, or Valles Marineris, which dawrfs the Grand Canyon in comparison.
We've missed the peak of the Perseid Meteor shower which was on Friday 12th August, although I've seen some meteors from the right direction as late as 2 nights ago.  |