Mars and the full Moon pair up to provide a grand celestial spectacle on Friday night.(29.1.10)

uk.news.yahoo.com...

The Red Planet, now 62 million miles from Earth, will be at its brightest this year as it lines up opposite the Sun.

At around 9pm, Mars will be above and to the left of the Moon, about the length of an outstretched fist away.

Saw this and thought it may be interesting to members.

Mars is looking really quite red and impressive at the moment, and the Moon will be full, he said. "It's going to be a great sight and rather fun to look for

Lets hope its going to be a cloudless night!!

Thanks for the heads up, will be watching from the balony on the 10th floor of my apartment, the views are fantastic from here, was just looking at the moon a few minutes ago.

This is more believable than the MARS WILL BE THE SIZE OF THE MOON e-mail hoax that is talked about publically EVERY YEAR lol.

Can't wait!

=)

Yes hopefully it should be a good show but I live in the UK and clouds are always a problem with viewing celestial events such as this. Im hoping there whont be too many tonight.

I've been paying attention to mars lately. When I walk out the door to go to the car at 9:40PM every night to go to work, I see it about 60 degrees up in the eastern sky, directly in front of me, and staring me down.

I've also noticed that Sirius isn't the only major flickerer anymore.

But guess what... That means that for me, in the northeastern US, the bright mars, the brilliant moon, Sirius, and Orion will be dominating the same part of the sky.

Pretty chill.

I can see it now out of my window, its quite impresive, especially as the moon is full moon.

The moon is huge in the midlands.Im quessing Mars is the bright star to the bottom left.Not that easy to see though.

[edit on 29-1-2010 by KANDINSKI]

the brighter the moon is, the less bright mars will be.

Unless I am missing something here, the moon will steal, mars's thunder so to speak.

Originally posted by Mr Green
Yes hopefully it should be a good show but I live in the UK and clouds are always a problem with viewing celestial events such as this. Im hoping there whont be too many tonight.

Same, where are you from in the UK? Because im from the south and its raining... So not too promising, can see sh!t!

x

reply to post by Mr Green

Ohhhhhhh so that's what I saw earlier on then.

The moon was HUGE tonight and you could see this very bright star to the left of it so thanks OP I for letting me know that it was in fact mars

Originally posted by KANDINSKI
The moon is huge in the midlands.Im quessing Mars is the bright star to the bottom left.Not that easy to see though.

[edit on 29-1-2010 by KANDINSKI]

If the moon is the center of a clock, Mars is at about 7:30 relative to it. It's been very bright this week, though I live in a place with little to no light pollution. Should be very easy to see though! Look like an orangish colored star as bright as Sirius, which may twinkle a bit too.

I'm in Birmingham right now, its a clear sky and its looking pretty impressive, i'll be taking photo's at 9pm and posting them shrortly after.

Originally posted by la2
I'm in Birmingham right now, its a clear sky and its looking pretty impressive, i'll be taking photo's at 9pm and posting them shrortly after.

Brilliant, thanks very much. Its meant to be at its most impresive at midnight apparently but if the skies clear best take a pic while it lasts.

reply to post by Unstable Affliction

Same, where are you from in the UK? Because im from the south and its raining... So not too promising, can see sh!t!

North east and its a fantastic clear night. The moon is very bright but you can still see Mars quite clearly even with the naked eye with its red/orange tinge to the left.

Here is a picture of the Moon and Mars, taken tonight from Birmingham, UK. Its not the best picture in the world, but its a good first effort, hope you all enjoy.


[img]http://[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/2a4b997cf438.jpg[/img]

reply to post by la2


Thanks for that. Much better than I could do and it gives people a visual. Mars is still very clealy visable from your photo.

I am sitting at my computer and glancing out my sliding glass door and can see the Moon and Mars clearly with no telescope...very red and beautiful.

Originally posted by Aquarius1
I am sitting at my computer and glancing out my sliding glass door and can see the Moon and Mars clearly with no telescope...very red and beautiful.

Yes the Cosmos is indeed very beautiful and maybe we should take the time to actually see it and take its beauty in more.

Thank you all for your posts and interest in the mysteries that surround us.

Thanks to la2 for their photo .

Bah, its cloudy here and snowing like hell, I would love to see this rare occurrence but I guess the picture will do for now. But then again, the snow storm is pretty impressive too

So Mars is very near to Earth, this happens all 8 years? At least that's what someone told me...