Where is mars in the sky

These twinkly pinpricks are the Pleiades or the Seven Sisters, a group of hot blue stars more than light years away. You can track the Moon, Mars and the Pleiades across the sky until they set in the west just after Planets move across the sky. By April Mars will be visible straight above Aldebaran - the brightest star in the constellation Taurus. By May, Mars moves into the constellation of Gemini but is unfortunately low in the sky. You can see Mars and Venus together in early July, low on the western horizon.

But by August, Mars will be difficult — if not impossible — to spot. The Red Planet comes close enough for exceptional viewing only once or twice every 15 or 17 years. However, don't be fooled by the Mars Hoax! Since , this urban legend has been circulated through email and social media every time Mars makes a close approach. Don't be fooled by the Mars Hoax. The message is that Mars will look as big as the Moon in our night sky. If that were true, we'd be in big trouble given the gravitational pulls on Earth, Mars, and our Moon!

Mars Close Approach happens about every 26 months. It is closely related to Mars Opposition and Mars Retrograde. Since Mars and Earth are at their closest, it's generally the best time to go to Mars. Many Mars missions have taken advantage of the close distance to visit the red planet.

That's why, depending on budgets, you'll often see that Mars missions launch about every two years:. Missed seeing Mars Close Approach in ? Mars, on the other hand, is looking fairly faint. The red planet has been in the north-west sky for the past few months and while it was bright and red earlier in the year, it has been fading quite considerably as its orbit takes it away from Earth.

On Tuesday evening, the pair will appear so close together, they will fit within the field of view of a telescope or pair of binoculars. Yet in reality, they are millions of kilometres apart — Venus will be around million km from Earth and Mars a more distant million km. Aboriginal Australians have witnessed close pairings of Venus and Mars for thousands of years and for the Euahlayi people of northern New South Wales it has particular significance.

This cosmic pairing represents the eyes of Buwadjarr , the supreme creation ancestor. As one Euahlayi elder who chose not to be named told researchers :. During the day, the eyes of Maliyan the eaglehawk are the eyes of [Buwadjarr]. Because one is red Mars , and one is blue and green Venus. Read more: Aboriginal traditions describe the complex motions of planets, the 'wandering stars' of the sky.

When it does this it also twinkles. Elders describe the planet as an old man who told a crude joke and is animatedly laughing to himself. The event is also linked to ceremony. Euahlayi people follow part of a Songline mapped out in the stars to travel to a place near Quilpie, km northwest of Goodooga in western Queensland. Bringing with them a green and blue opal, representing Venus, they meet the local Maranganji people, who provide a red stone signifying Mars.