The red planet will be making an appearance.
It’s been quite an eventful season for stargazing these past few months, with a number of spectacles lighting up our skies (and our lockdown). From meteor showers to supermoons, we’ve had it all – and now, space fans can enjoy the rare sight of Mars in our skies tomorrow and Friday morning.
Peeping through the sky just before daybreak, Mars will be shining brightly starting tomorrow morning, with experts advising those who’d like to catch a glimpse of it to look up just before dawn on Thursday, March 14 and Friday, March 15. They will technically reach their closest pass at 10:03 EDT, but of course it will be light out by then. So make an extra early breakfast and take a look up at the sky before sunrise to catch the Last Quarter Moon when you can see half the moon’s surface.
And if all this Mars talk wasn’t exciting enough, Jupiter and Saturn will also be turning up for the space party on Monday, May 18, with Jupiter outshining Mars by 12 times. You can read a day play-by-play on NASA’s website here.
For those wanting to see the celestial sights, binoculars will help with spotting Jupiter and its four moons, with Saturn sitting a little further away, which can be seen using a telescope – although if you’re not quite equipped for pro stargazing, your own naked eyes will do the job just fine.
[Featured image: NASA]