This past month I’ve been doing markups on the layouts for Visions of the Cosmos — the book that Jack Brandt and I have written together, due out this fall from Cambridge University Press. It has been a time-consuming process — crosschecking each page with the manuscript and images we sent to the press last spring. I call it the “fine-tooth comb” process and now that it’s done, I’m glad it’s over. But, while I’m doing it, it seems to last an eternity.
Now that it’s done, I can turn my attention back to the sky. Most avid amateurs out there are checking out the planet Mars when they get a chance. For those of you who have been under a rock or eating your way across the south of France or living under cloudy skies, here’s the scoop on the Red Planet’s doings.
First of all, Mars is about as close in its orbit as it ever gets to Earth. On August 27, 2003 it will be about 35 million miles (that’s about 56 million kilometers) away. So, that means if you’re checking it out through a telescope, it will appear about as big in the eyepiece as it ever gets. Still, it won’t be THAT big — but depending on the size of your scope (say a 6-inch or larger), you should be able to make out the polar cap and maybe some dark markings. That is, of course, if the view isn’t obscured by a dust storm at Mars or a cloud bottom here on Earth. Right now (the end of July, northern hemisphere) you can go out about midnight and look for the Red Planet low in the southeast in the constellation Aquarius.

What if you were on Mars, looking back at Earth? Well, right at opposition the view wouldn’t be too good — Earth would be pretty close to the Sun as seen from Mars. But, at other times of the year, if you were a Martian stargazer with a good backyard-type telescope, you’d see a bluish-white world with a good-sized moon in orbit around it.

This image was taken on May 8, 2003 by the Mars Global Surveyor that’s orbiting Mars and mapping its surface. Kinda gives us a whole new way of looking at our home planet — from the viewpoint of a Martian!