Mars is the fourth planet from the sun. At 162 million miles away, light from the Red Planet takes fourteen minutes to reach us. According to NASA, the iron materials in Mars’ soil oxidize, which means the planet is literally a rusty rock. While sky gazers have recorded Mars’ existence and movement across the heavens for thousands of years, Galileo Galilei was the first person to view Mars through a telescope in 1610.
My Observations
| Date | October 3, 2020 |
| Time | 11:00 p.m. |
| Location | Seattle, WA |
| Scope | Meade 8″ SCT |
| Seeing | Average |
| Transparency | Average |
I’ve had the pleasure of viewing Mars through various scopes over the years including a small refractor to a 14-inch Dobsonian. Tonight, I’m both observing and trying my hand at astrophotography through the 8-inch LX65. I’m able to view a small patch of the white caps as well as a darker band running horizontally across the planet.
As I view Mars right now, a rocket carrying NASA’s Perseverance rover is on its way to the red planet. The rover launched a few months ago on July 30, and it’s scheduled to land on February 18, 2021.
Key Stats
| What constellation When Observed | Pisces |
| Visual Magnitude When Observed | -2.54 |
| Distance from Earth When Observed | .4153 AU |
Sources and Notes
Photo of Mars by ESA & MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
The Garden Astronomer 
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