A stargazer's delight: Mars will glow red in the sky... and you'll be able to spot it even without a telescope



Stargazers and astronomers are excitedly waiting to see Mars in the night sky this weekend when the planet is at its closest to Earth in over two years - making glow visibly red even to the naked eye .

The event, known as an opposition, happens once every 26 months when the orbits of Earth and Mars align so that the two planets form a relatively straight line with the sun.

Indeed this cosmic event is called an opposition because the Red Planet sits on the exact opposite side of Earth from the sun.



Opposition: An artist's rendering of a Mars opposition, when the Red Planet and the sun sit on exact opposite sides of the Earth (Not to scale)

The opposition itself will occur in the Northern Hemisphere at 11pm EST this Saturday (4am GMT on Sunday).

Cosmic event: Mars is visible once every 26 months when it sits on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun

However, because of Mars's elliptical path around the sun, the red planet will be closest to us on Monday, when they will be about 62.6million miles (100.7million kilometers) apart.

But the best chance to view Mars will be Saturday night when it will be clearly visible without a telescope as a red dot in the night sky.

With a telescope, gazers will be able to see the Red Planet's ice caps and surface details.

Mars will be visible in the constellation Leo, where it will be the brightest star at the time of the opposition.

The oval orbit of Mars means that some oppositions bring the planet much closer to Earth than others.

The upcoming opposition isn't one of the closer ones because it occurs when Mars is the farthest it gets from the sun during an orbit.



The Mars opposition in 2003 occurred when the Red Planet was its closest distance to the sun - coming within about 34.8 million miles of Earth.

This was the closest the two planets had been in nearly 60,000 years.

Another opportunity to see the Red Planet comes on March 7 when Mars is near the full moon.

2003 opposition: This event was the closest Mars and the Earth had been in 60,000 years



