Mars at opposition

With Mars now at opposition, now is the time to dust off your telescope and look at the planet. The planet is very easy to find. Just look for a bright slightly orange (if you use your imagination) star above the Eastern horizon as evening twilight ends. If you miss it tomorrow night due to the rain covering Eastern Australia, don’t panic. Mars will continue to be easily visible in the sky for months to come. If you are unfamiliar with the night sky, wait till Wednesday night when the Moon will be located above Mars. Just look below the Moon for the brightest star you can see. That will be Mars.

For those unfamiliar with the term opposition, it refers to the time when a planet is directly opposite the Sun as seen from the Earth. This usually corresponds to the time when a planet is closest to the Earth in its orbit, positioning it ideally for viewing through a telescope. For Mars, this occurs at exactly 6 am AEST tomorrow morning. Unfortunately, Mars is small and located at a significant distance from the Earth making small details on the planets surface invisible.