Mars

Mars is clearly visible to the east in the evenings (clear ones that is!) and is the closest it has been for 17 years. To help you enjoy the planet here are some notes from my book, ‘A stroll through the stars’:

Missions to Mars capture our imagination because it is the most likely destination for a manned spacecraft. Venus is nearer to us but is so inhospitable, landing there is out of the question. At least, for the time being!
So, what can we see through the telescope? If you are fortunate enough to have access to a telescope, it is possible to view the ice caps. I was fortunate enough to use Norman Lockyer’s historic telescope at his Observatory in Sidmouth and found the ice caps all by myself. The effort involved was well worthwhile.
The planet appears as a red dot in the sky and the redness reminded the Ancient Greeks of blood and war so they named it Ares. Later, the Romans changed the name to Mars – their god of war. The surface is rocky and littered with pebbles and rocks. It is very windy with tornadoes bigger than any on Earth. Visibility is poor with all the dust being blown around. Everywhere has a reddish tinge, due to iron rich content.
Some of the crevices are as deep as 8 km/5 miles and 644 km/400 miles wide. Each pole is covered by an ice cap. The crevices are evidence of water erosion. There are clouds on Mars, although they look similar to Earth clouds, these were formed from water and carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere and not from water on the surface which happens on Earth.
Olympus Mons is the largest volcano in our solar system. It is a shield volcano 15 miles high with a volume greater than any on Earth. Mount Everest is a bit less than 10 km/6 miles high (8839 metres/29,000 feet).
In an article in Astronomy Now magazine (May 2016) Dr Allan Chapman noted that the transit of Mercury on 3 June 2014 was the first such transit to be observed from a planet other than Earth.
Curiosity. Spirit. Opportunity. Perseverance. Such are the inspiring names of the missions to map and photograph and take samples of the red planet.
The planet has two little moons encircling it, Phobos and Deimos, which would look like potatoes at the end of a football pitch!
Mars is half the size of Earth and takes twice as long to orbit the Sun. It comes closest to Earth every 780 days or so.
Between Mars and Jupiter is an area containing millions of small rocks ranging from a few feet/metres to about a kilometre across. The Asteroid Belt contains rocks some of which are larger than a kilometre across but all are smaller than planets. Asteroid means star like and these are small rocks that have never formed into planets or perhaps are pieces from a larger object which suffered a collision. Although far apart, these objects do present a danger to spacecraft travelling through on their way to the outer solar system.