Mars – Astronomy Now

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.

NASA’s InSight mission lands on Mars to study planet’s hidden interior

26 November 2018 Stephen Clark

NASA’s InSight spacecraft plunged into the rarefied atmosphere of Mars at a speed of more than 12,000 mph Monday and braked to a gentle touchdown, setting the stage for a two-year surface mission to probe the planet’s deep interior.

See the Moon get close to Mars on 18 October

17 October 2018 Ade Ashford

Skywatchers in Western Europe looking in the southern sky at dusk on Thursday, 18 October can see the 9-day-old waxing gibbous Moon close to the upper left of Mars, the pair fitting comfortably in the same field of view of typical binoculars. This is also a good night for spotting some prominent martian features telescopically – seeing permitting!

Mars’ moon Phobos may be a chip off the old block

26 September 2018 Astronomy Now

Re-evaluating data collected 20 years ago by NASA’s now retired Mars Global Surveyor, researchers say the martian moon Phobos could have originated in the aftermath of a titanic planetary collision that blasted surface material into space.

Ancient Mars could have supported sub-surface biosphere

24 September 2018 Astronomy Now

A new study indicates Mars had more than enough sub-surface hydrogen, from the breakdown of water due to radioactive decay, to support a global microbial biosphere that could have persisted for hundreds of millions of years.

Curiosity panorama shows still-dusty Mars from Vera Rubin Ridge

7 September 2018 Astronomy Now

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover paused its research last month to snap images for a spectacular 360-degree panorama showing the robot’s view from Vera Rubin Ridge on the lower slopes of Mount Sharp, revealing a still-dusty world in the aftermath of a global dust storm.

See the Moon meet the Red Planet on the UK night of 23 August

23 August 2018 Ade Ashford

Mars may be almost four weeks past opposition, but it’s still an imposing sight low in the southern sky around local midnight. But if you are in any doubt about identifying the Red Planet, the waxing gibbous Moon acts as a convenient celestial guide late into the UK night of Thursday, 23 August. See both the Moon and the Red Planet in the same field of view of low-power binoculars.

InSight lander now halfway to Mars, on track for November landing

20 August 2018 Astronomy Now

NASA’s InSight spacecraft has passed the halfway point to Mars and remains on track for a 26 November landing in the Elysium Planitia region where it will become the first probe to study the red planet’s deep interior.

NASA stands by for Mars Opportunity wake up as dust storm abates

18 August 2018 Astronomy Now

NASA has not heard from the Opportunity Mars rover since it fell silent 10 June as a global dust storm blanketed the red planet, but engineers are hopeful the long-lived robot will wake up soon as the storm abates.

Find Martian moons Phobos and Deimos at the Red Planet’s closest approach

30 July 2018 Ade Ashford

Do you like extreme observing challenges? If you own a quality telescope of 25-cm (10-inch) aperture or larger and have excellent sky conditions, then you might just glimpse Phobos and Deimos, the diminutive moons of Mars around the time that the Red Planet is closest to Earth on 31 July.