# mars is unusually bright tonight. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 27, 2003, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-is-unusually-bright-tonight/197912 "2003-08-27T04:45:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aaaaaarrgg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@aaaaaarrgg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aaaaaarrgg)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-is-unusually-bright-tonight/197912/1 "2003-08-27T04:45:21Z")
i was surfing through yahoo news links before and found [this](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/space/20030826/sc_space/marsmakeshistoryclosesttoearthaug27) so i went outside and walked down the street a little bit, and wow. my dad used to show me where different planets and such were when i was younger, and i remember him waking me and my brother up once or twice in the middle of the night to go look at comets and the like when i was little. i’ve never seen anything like it before. it’s putting all the stars and planets to shame, it’s so bright. anyone else going stargazing? ---
**Author:** ![if6was9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@if6was9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/if6was9)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-is-unusually-bright-tonight/197912/2 "2003-08-27T04:54:29Z")
AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!! It’s too darn cloudy here for me to see it! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Horseflesh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horseflesh/32/7502_2.png) [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-is-unusually-bright-tonight/197912/3 "2003-08-27T04:54:29Z")
I stalked Uma Thurman once. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-is-unusually-bright-tonight/197912/4 "2003-08-27T05:43:17Z")
Yep, went to the local observatory a couple of nights ago. Didn’t get to the main 'scope, too crowded, so looked through one of the smaller ones (maybe 6"-8" lens). Even with that Mars was pretty small; you could kinda see coloured areas but no distinct actual features. So don’t get your expectations up. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-is-unusually-bright-tonight/197912/5 "2003-08-27T05:53:42Z")
If you hadn’t been reading all the hype, you wouldn’t even notice it any more than usual with the naked eye. It’s not like it’s taking up half the sky or looking like the full moon. ---
**Author:** ![Sarcastic\_Fringehead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@Sarcastic\_Fringehead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarcastic_Fringehead)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-is-unusually-bright-tonight/197912/6 "2003-08-27T06:05:20Z")
Some surface detail was visible through my 6" Dobsonian + 6.3 mm Plossl eyepiece. The southern ice cap was distinct, though the equatorial features were just a brownish blur. The humidity and heat radiation here in GA made the seeing cruddy, but Mars was worth spooking the neighbors with the scope. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-is-unusually-bright-tonight/197912/7 "2003-08-27T06:09:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zeldar \* > \*\*If you hadn’t been reading all the hype, you wouldn’t even notice it any more than usual with the naked eye. It’s not like it’s taking up half the sky or looking like the full moon. \*\* I wouldn’t go that far. It’s really bright, and even here in the skyglow of Sydney quite distinctively red-yellow with the naked eye. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-is-unusually-bright-tonight/197912/8 "2003-08-27T13:02:18Z")
I gave myself a bruised eyelid while waching it through a pair of too-heavy binoculars _sans_ tripod. _BONK_ “Ouch! Oops.” Wasn’t even that special. Just a very bright, reddish dot. Curse you, Mars, curse you all to hell. ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-is-unusually-bright-tonight/197912/9 "2003-08-27T15:16:14Z")
Yeah, I definitely would have noticed it–it’s bright enough to pierce through glare and haze of Kalamazoo’s night sky. It is quite bright. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-is-unusually-bright-tonight/197912/10 "2003-08-27T15:34:04Z")
Anyone else open this thread thinking the OP was riffing on Harry Potter? ---
**Author:** ![Moon-Watcher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/49beb7/32.png) [@Moon-Watcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moon-Watcher)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-is-unusually-bright-tonight/197912/11 "2003-08-27T16:33:03Z")
I’ve been hearing that Harry Potter line for weeks now. I’ve been out several times in the past month, including last night where I helped host an observing night. Through an 8" with a 7.5mm objective I could make out both polar caps and some of the dark lowland/dust structures. It was really quite impressive. ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-is-unusually-bright-tonight/197912/12 "2003-08-27T16:42:26Z")
Check out [this](http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/08/27/mars.closeup/index.html) moron: > [@](#): > > “Knowing that this is once in a lifetime that I can see another planet with the naked eye, yeah, it’s great,” said Rebecca Horton, a stargazer from Sydney, Australia. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-is-unusually-bright-tonight/197912/13 "2003-08-27T17:21:45Z")
I saw it a couple of nights ago, and it IS impressive. The glare of Seattle keeps me from seeing any stars where I live, so I didn’t expect to be able to see Mars. Yet there it is, far too big to be an ordinary star or planet (I know it’s an ordinary planet, just not at the ordinary distance), looking like a big orange omen or something. Other than the moon, it’s the only object visible in the sky at night. Mars has been pointed out to me many times in the past, when it was just a reddish dot hardly different from the stars. This is not like that. It’s, like, really big. ---
**Author:** ![j.c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@j.c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j.c)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-is-unusually-bright-tonight/197912/14 "2003-08-27T22:37:54Z")
Like other city dwellers, I was thrilled to be able to see Mars despite the haze of light pollution. I kept thinking it must be something else. Couldn’t believe my good fortune. Eventually, I fell asleep. (I was laying in the backyard.) But I’m still trying for a star party in the country this weekend. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-is-unusually-bright-tonight/197912/15 "2003-08-27T23:36:19Z")
OK, I would like to try and see it, where should I look? I live in the NE US, will I be able to see it at all tonight? ---
**Author:** ![artemis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/91b2a8/32.png) [@artemis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/artemis)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2003, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-is-unusually-bright-tonight/197912/16 "2003-08-28T00:47:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bouv \* > \*\*OK, I would like to try and see it, where should I look? I live in the NE US, will I be able to see it at all tonight? \*\* Unless it’s cloudy, you’ll definitely be able to see it. Look in the east/southeastern sky about one hour after sunset. Mars will be starlike, faintly yellow-orange, and VERY bright - right now, it’s the brightest object in the sky except for the Moon. It will be up all night, slowly moving from east to south and finally setting in the west near sunrise. Enjoy! ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2003, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-is-unusually-bright-tonight/197912/17 "2003-08-28T00:58:23Z")
Yes, if it’s not cloudy … look in the southeast, at about moonrise or later. It was well enough above the horizon at 10:00 the other night, probably was visible for some time earlier. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2003, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-is-unusually-bright-tonight/197912/18 "2003-08-28T01:22:39Z")
BTW - There is no moon tonight in New York…so don’t look for that. Currently Mars is up, though, so you should be able to see it if you look almost exactly south east and not too high up. I’m pretty sure I’m looking at it now, but my sceptical SO is telling me it’s a radio tower light…I just ran kstars and it showed that mars should be exactly where I said it was! He finally caved as I was writing this post 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Blonde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Blonde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blonde)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2003, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-is-unusually-bright-tonight/197912/19 "2003-08-28T04:03:06Z")
She’s out there, all right - beautiful indeed. ---
**Author:** ![if6was9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@if6was9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/if6was9)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2003, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-is-unusually-bright-tonight/197912/20 "2003-08-28T04:23:27Z")
STILL too cloudy! :mad: [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mars-is-unusually-bright-tonight/197912.md?page=2)