Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
An image of Mars taken by the Hubble Space Telescope AP Photo/NASA
a mars a day
Look up! We'll have the best view of Mars in two years tonight
Hello there, Red Planet.
IF YOU’RE LOOKING for something non-Eurovision-related to do this evening, you could to worse than look to the skies.
Mars is going to be (relatively) close to Earth and will be visible to the naked eye for a period of time tonight.
It”s going to be the closest the Red Planet gets to Earth for more than two years – we’re not going to see it this close again until 2016.
“Those of us who have large telescopes have been getting amazing views of Mars over the past few days while the planet is so close,” said David Moore, the editor of Astronomy Ireland’s magazine.
“I’ve seen the ice caps, clouds and the dark surface markings that were once thought to be vast areas of vegetation that led to all the stories of Martians and life on that planet in the 19th century when telescopes were first big enough to show this sort of detail when Mars came close to Earth like it does in 2014″.
Astronomy Ireland is setting up powerful telescopes in Rosemount Business Park in Dublin 15, near the National Aquatic Centre, tonight to allow members of the public to see the Red Planet up close.
Anyone relying on their peepers to spot it should look out for a very bright star-like object just to the left of the Moon.
Happy planet-spotting…
have your say