Friday, April 4, 2014

When that bright object in the night sky is NOT the moon...

If you've been paying attention to the night sky lately, you might have noticed something besides the moon rising into the night sky.

It's the planet Mars, converging close to Earth over the next month.

You can see Mars rising in the east as the Sun sets in the west. At midnight each night over the next few weeks, it will be almost directly overhead.

On April 8, it will be closer to the Earth than at any time in more than two years, and on that same date, the Earth, the Sun and in between, Mars - will all be lined up almost perfectly straight.

On April 14, Mars will come even closer. In fact, it will be so close that our astronauts would be able to reach it in just six months' time.

On April 14, we will also have a full lunar eclipse and our moon will turn as bright red as Mars itself.

Watch this video from NASA for more information: