NASA Science Briefing: Comet Siding Spring at Mars

On Wednesday, March 4th, planets Venus and Mars will be easy naked-eye objects in the western sky at dusk, but in a telescope you’ll have the added bonus of spotting gas giant Uranus very close to Venus.

Observers in the British Isles and Western Europe should look low to the east about an hour before sunrise on Wednesday, 18 October to see the slim crescent of a very old Moon close to the brightest planet, Venus. Mars is also nearby for the keen-eyed among you, but don’t leave it too late or the growing twilight will drown out the Red Planet.

The intrepid Curiosity rover has scaled its greatest challenge so far, a steep slope inclined at 31 degrees to the horizontal, leading to a cliff-top region known as Greenheugh Pediment.