Mars comes into OPPOSITION on October 13th opening up wonderful opportunities for sky-watchers to see Mars at its best since 2018. Mars oppositions, unlike those of Saturn and Jupiter, which occur each year, happen only every other year. At opposition, a planet is opposite the Sun in the sky. Mars will rise in the East as the Sun sets in the West on October 13th.
Mars was actually a little closer to Earth at its 2018 opposition, but this year’s opposition puts Mars higher in the sky. The greater altitude means the light from Mars passes through our atmosphere along a shorter path, providing a better image. Best views of Mars will be in the couple of hours before and after midnight when the planet will be at its peak altitude. Among the stars of the zodiac constellation, Pisces, Mars will be brighter than Jupiter has been all summer. Mars will remain a commanding object in the southern sky until Thanksgiving, when it will still be brighter than Sirius, the brightest star in our sky as seen from Earth.
Telescope views of Mars will reveal its South Polar Cap (mostly frozen carbon dioxide and some water ice). Various plains and highlands will be revealed too as dark and light areas. Mars rotates in 24 hours and 37 minutes, so watching it over several nights around the same time each night would allow one to notice the shift of these features to the west (left).
The Full Moon of October 1st rises just a few degrees in front of Mars, while the nearly Full Moon of October 29th will be seen just below it.
Do not overlook Saturn and Jupiter now over in the southwestern sky. Saturn appears even closer to Jupiter this month, and though both have faded a bit as our distance between them grows, they remain very bright. Both planets do not set until after 11 pm.
Venus rises on the morning of October 1st in the eastern sky around 4 am local time, alongside Regulus, the brightest star in Leo. Regulus ranks as the 20th brightest star we see, yet Venus is 145 times brighter! The pair will appear even closer together on October 2nd and 3rd. On October 13th and 14th, look for a crescent Moon just above Venus before dawn.
October 2020 has two Full Moons; October 1st and October 31st. We call the 2nd Full Moon in the same calendar month a “Blue” Moon; as in something happening “once in a blue Moon.” Actually 2 Full Moons in the same month is not all that rare. It happens about every 3 or 4 years.
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