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SpaceWatch -- Mars and the Rival of Mars
By Jeff Kanipe
posted: 30 June 2005
07:59 am
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Thursday, January 11An hour or so before dawn, look near the horizon in the southeast for the rising head of Scorpius the Scorpion. It's a T-shaped pattern, slightly cocked over toward the west, with a bright, smoldering star at its base. This star is Antares, whose name means "rival of Mars."[inset] Now look above and to the right of Antares for another reddish star, nearly as bright as Antares. This is Antares' "opponent," the planet Mars. The Red Planet has been growing brighter, but very slowly. In four months' time, it has risen slightly over half a magnitude. Mars won't breach magnitude 1 until early February. Another ruddy star graces the morning sky, this one brighter than both Antares and Mars. In fact it's the fourth-brightest star in the night sky -- Arcturus of Boötes the Herdsman. When seen this high in the evening sky, it is considered the herald of the transition between spring and summer. This morning, however, standing very high in the eastern predawn sky, this crimson beacon might be considered a sign of midwinter. Jupiter and its Moons in Real Time | 
| This image is of Jupiter and its moons as they appear right now -- click for a larger version . Image is updated every four hours. Time is given in Universal Time (UT), which is the same as Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and is 5 hours ahead of EST. Images created using SPACE.com's Starry Night Pro . |
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