Mars and Jupiter are staging an especially close encounter in the early morning sky. They climb into good view by 2 or 2:30, and stand high in the east at dawn, so you shouldn’t have any trouble finding them.
Jupiter is by far the brighter of the two. In fact, it’s the brightest object in the early morning sky now other than the Moon. It shines almost 20 times brighter than Mars. But the Red Planet is pretty bright on its own. And it’ll only get brighter as the year progresses.
That’s because Mars and Earth are moving closer to each other. Earth is the third planet from the Sun, while Mars is the fourth. Since we’re closer to the Sun, we move faster than Mars does. So every 26 months, we catch the Red Planet, then move past it.
Right now, we’re in chase mode, closing the gap by a little bit each day. As we get closer, Mars gets brighter. By the end of the year, it’ll shine about eight times as brightly as it does now. It’ll reach its peak in mid-January, when Earth passes Mars and the two planets are at their closest.
For now, watch for Mars as it slips past Jupiter the next few mornings. It stands a little above Jupiter tomorrow. They’ll be closest on Wednesday and Thursday, separated by a fraction of a degree – less than the width of a pencil held at arm’s length. After that, they’ll move apart, with Mars lagging behind its brighter sibling.
Tomorrow: messages from the Moon.
Script by Damond Benningfield