It may be past 10:00pm right now, but I can still see it waaayyyy up in the southern night sky. The sky is so clear, you see all the other stars.

I don't have a telescope nor binocalurs. So I tried the best I can to focus my vision rrreeeeeaaaaaaallllll hard. If you stare at it without consentrating, it will look like a very bright star.

I think I was successful. I focused so hard, I actually saw Mars' rounded surface.

My vision is about 20/10. This means (and I asked a doctor) that anything that I see that is 20ft from me actually appears to be 10ft away. Maybe that's how I managed to see the Martian surface without a telescope or binos.

One of you guys mentioned that the planet will stick around until the end of September. Is that true?

Humanity is already planning to move to Mars somewhere close to year 2050 (that only refers to colonization).

Astronomy fact:

As the time goes by (for the next few billion years. hehe) the sun OBVIOUSLY expands. However, as the suns expands, the so-called Comfort Zone moves away as well. This will leave Earth in a very hot position.

The comfort zone is where the temperature to support life is just right. Not too cold and not too hot.

As the zone moves, it will move farther away from Earth and closer to Mars. Soon, Earth will look like Venus (with oceans evaperated into thick @55 clouds) and Mars will look like Earth (frozen ice caps melted to form the oceans).

Humanity is already planning on doing a Terraforming Project (the process of changing a planet's physical appears to allow it to support life).

First, we'll be sending in machines to Mars so that they will release super-greenhouse gases into its atmosphere. This will thicken its atmosphere so that Mars can trap more heat. The heat will melt the ice caps.

Another way to make the oceans on Mars is to build giant mirrors that are supposed to be the size of TEXAS!!!!! They will then be orbiting the planet so that they can reflect the sun's light onto the frozen ice.

We'll then be putting a huge number of plants, later trees, so that the CO2 athosphere (Carbon Dioxide) can be converted to O2 (Oxygen). It will take some time, though. A lot of time.

Plus many other methods of Terraforming.

However, don't expect this to happen soon. Humanity will have to take time to plan first. Not only that, this HUGE and complex process will take over a hundred years to complete. Let's hope I can live long enough. The oldest human was about over 110 years old.

Please correct me if I mentioned something inaccurate.

Quote:

I looked at it at about 5 am this morning and it was on the western horizon-fairly low.  I was viewing it from Western Oregon.

just walked outside and there's a bright object in the Sky, roughly towards the south-east. It's also the brightest thing out there, I guess that's mars ???

It's like a orange-yellow color

Even though, as Katahu said, humanity is planning to move to Mars, I think that is a terrible idea.  Why change a perfectly pristine environment into a 'New Earth' when there are more than likely thousands, if not millions of other planets out there for us to clonize?

By the time (BILLIONS of years) we need to move out, surely we will have discovered other planets, and if not, we could simply turn some of the barren rocks out in the asteroid belt into a perfectly good planet that wouldn't have to destroy what is already in the sky.

Come to think of it, I don't think we should colonize the moon, but I think that idea has gone way too far to even mess with.  Imagine--a moon without the white beauty that has shone down on man (and woman) since the dawn of history!  Instead, a terrain of lakes and hills covered with green.  Doesn't seem to me like it would be the moon anymore.

Maybe I'm just a little old-fashioned and a bit of an ecological meanie, but its what I think, and I'll lobby for it should the time ever come.

Sorry, just thought I should put this in here, seeing as Katahu had his say on the subject.

Quote:


First, Katahu, Mars would only appear10 ft. closer with your naked eye. Mars is 36.89 million miles away. You could be able to see the the roundness of the Red Planet w/out a telescope, but it would be very hard. I could barely see it with binocs, and I have 20/20.

Second, Yes, Mars will be visible until the end of September.



If you want, you can always try to live another 286 years, and you'll be able to see Mars this bright again.



             James

Hi, Star gazers... 8)...!

Using a reasonable telescope it should be possible to observe the Polar ice-cap and even terrain markings.
The colour of Mars is orange, the other bright objects in the sky are Venus, (white, remember planets don't flicker like stars), and the International Space Station, which is quite bright and can often be confused with Venus!... ...!
Mars is around 37 million miles away at the moment, but with my 25X telescope, it's just at the bottom of my garden,...a cool 1.5 million miles away... 8)...LOL...!
It will be visible for most of September, weather permitting... ...!
LOL...!

Cheers astronomers... ...!
Paul.
(England).

P.S. what sort of telescopes have you all got?
Reflective, refractive, binoculars, etc... 8)...!

P.P.S.  for us Brits, Mars is in the southern sky, whereas Venus and the Space Station are in the western sky...