Martian Law
I hereby enact the sacred right of Martian Law! Under Martian Law, I now declare myself married to actress Adrian Barbeau, queen of Mars from Olympus Mons to Tharsus!
In honor of the Great Red Planet, I demand that all readers bow their heads to Aries, God of Mars! The punishment for blasphemy shall be death!
I also demand that all readers go outside and look at Mars, because this is it! Mars is currently closer to Earth than it has been in nearly 60,000 years, approaching to about 56 million kilometers. It is now the second brightest object in the night sky, out-shined only by the moon. Viewing by telescope will be excellent over the next few weeks, with even amateur telescopes being able to easily distinguish the dark plains regions, and the white polar caps on the disc.
In case you are wondering, the part of Earth that was closest to Mars was Tahiti, which was facing Mars at the exact moment of alignment, which occurred very early Wednesday morning. Don’t worry that the moment has passed. Mars and Earth will be staying very close all through the month of September, and viewing will actually get easier as time goes on because Mars will be rising earlier and earlier here in the western hemisphere. Mars will look much as it does normally in the sky, no need to fear a great looming red orb. However, it will be brighter than normal, reaching a magnitude of about -2.8, looking like a large bright ochre star.
So go take a look, for goodness sake. Even if you just stare up at it for a second and muse about how far 56 million kilometers (34.6 million miles) really is. Oh, red planet, so close, yet so far.
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Thursday 28 Aug 2003 | Sam | Announcements
Sam, I saw mars from the desert on the way out to burning man. Dustin and I were looking at it in the Utah stillness. Suddenly a meteorite streaked across the sky for so long that I had to turn around to see the end of it. I love the desert.