Mars – Astronomy Now

End of an era: NASA gives up on Opportunity rover

14 February 2019 Astronomy Now

After a final attempt to restore contact with the Opportunity Mars rover, NASA managers declared the spacecraft lost, bringing a 15-year mission to an end.

See Mars, Uranus and the Moon get close on 10 February

7 February 2019 Ade Ashford

Have you ever seen planet Uranus? If skies are clear in the UK and Western Europe on the evening of Sunday, 10 February, see this icy gas giant less than 2 degrees (or four lunar diameters) from Mars and 6 degrees from the 5-day-old crescent Moon. In fact, you’ll see all three in a single view of wide-angle binoculars like 7×50s.

InSight Mars lander deploys seismometer shield

5 February 2019 Astronomy Now

A robot arm aboard NASA’s InSight Mars lander has completed deployment of a sensitive French-built seismometer and its critical wind and thermal shield.

Gravity measurements surprise Mars researchers

1 February 2019 Astronomy Now

Analysing gravity data from the Curiosity Mars rover, researchers have found Gale Crater might not have been completely filled in the distant past.

Curiosity takes a final selfie from Vera Rubin Ridge

30 January 2019 Astronomy Now

NASA’s Mars Curiosity Rover snapped a final selfie from Vera Rubin Ridge on the slopes of Gale Crater before moving on to study nearby clay-bearing soil.

A fresh crater in the red planet’s southern ice cap

27 January 2019 Astronomy Now

A meteoroid crashed into Mars between July and September 2018, penetrating the thin southern ice cap and excavating dark sub-surface sand, a very noticeable blemish on an otherwise pristine surface.

Opportunity rover logs 15 years on Mars

24 January 2019 Astronomy Now

NASA’s Opportunity Mars rover landed on the red planet 15 years ago 24 January; engineers are still attempting contact in the wake of a global dust storm last year.

See the Moon meet the Red Planet at dusk on 12 January 2019

7 January 2019 Ade Ashford

Observers should direct their gaze to the southern sky at dusk on Saturday, 12 January to view the 6-day-old waxing Moon in the constellation of Pisces. Look a little closer around 6pm GMT in the UK this night to see Mars as a magnitude +0.6 orange-coloured ‘star’ above the lunar crescent. If you own wide-angle 7× or 8× binoculars, you can see the Moon and Red Planet in the same field of view.

InSight selfie reveals drab, featureless plain – just what the doctor ordered

11 December 2018 Astronomy Now

NASA’s InSight Mars lander has snapped its first selfie on the surface of the red planet, revealing a level, almost featureless plain that’s exactlly the sort of landing site mission scientists wanted.

See Mars get very close to Neptune at dusk on 7 December

2 December 2018 Ade Ashford

Observers in the British Isles looking due south close to 6pm GMT on Friday, 7 December will find magnitude +0.1 planet Mars about 30 degress, or a span and a half of an outstretched hand at arm’s length, above the horizon. What you won’t see unless you have binoculars or a small telescope is that magnitude +7.9 outermost planet Neptune lies just one-tenth of a degree from the Red Planet.