Tonight, Mars is in its closest association with Pléiades in 30 years



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The Red Planet makes a distinct path across the western sky on the evening of Wednesday March 3, where it will soon meet a group of “Seven Sisters” in a way not seen for 30 years.

No matter where you live, Mars will be easily visible in the West in the evening after dark.

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And if you looked up last night (March 2), you probably discovered Mars below and to the left of a cluster of stars known as the “Seven Sisters” or “Pleiades”.

The two are heading towards their closest conjunction in our sky since January 1991. At their closest point, on March 3, Mars and Pleiades will be 2.6 degrees apart.

Mars and Pleiades won’t get closer until 2038, so astronomy fans certainly won’t miss this scene.

Astronomer Tom Kers said if given the chance it would be easy to see Mars and the Pleiades star cluster together in a rare conjunction that peaks on Wednesday, and “but it will look great Tuesday to Thursday. Mars will pass just a few degrees south of the cluster. The famous starfish, and if you could take a picture, you could see a wonderful contrast in color between the two. “

Naturally, Mars will appear to glow with a dust-covered orange glow, and the chandelier is a “ghostly blue.”

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“In fact, the Pleiades glow hot blue giants, Mars is a frozen cold rock, so these colors tend to challenge our intuition,” Kers added.

The pairing will be visible in the western sky one to two hours after sunset.

As the night progresses, Mars and the Pleiades will descend towards the western horizon, so it is best to try to determine the pairing point of the evening.

According to EarthSky astronomer Bruce McClure, the “couple” will stay together until around midnight for north-central latitudes.

And in the southern hemisphere, both will remain visible until around midnight.

Online tools like the Stellarium can be used to create a virtual map of the night sky to pinpoint the exact location of the event at all times.

The pairing will be visible to the naked eye, but if you have good binoculars, be sure to take them with you.

Source: Express



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