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Red Planet Fever

Mars from Ludiver

With the most excitement for a planet in our solar system aside from Earth and aside from school age bathroom humor standby, Uranus, Mars has been on the brain. It's (scary?) proximity to Earth this morning and its mythology in our culture have made it Must-See-Planet of the week. The Hubble Space Telescape has taken some beautiful photographs.

Gothamist did not manage to rouse ourselves out of bed for the 5:51AM viewing. We think we saw it last night; it was a bright object in the sky that neither twinkled nor moved. At least, that's what we're telling ourselves until 2287. We hear that it will be visible for the rest of the month, it was just that this morning was when Mars was the closest. And it might be that viewing it in 2005 will be better for the Northern Hemisphere.

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Comments [rss]

  • hoofin

    With all this media hype about "Mars the brightest it's been since Neanderthal man walked the Earth", I wasn't sure I shouldn't stand there and howl at it, or make some wildflower offering.

  • Unanimous

    I went outside after seeing Bill Murray on Letterman and just looked for it in the night sky. It was easy to spot as it looked like an incredibly bright star. Couldn't rouse myself to take another look this morning, however.

  • calavera

    it wasn't as close as it is now, but it was pretty hot to see Mars during the blackout, while the moon was also quite red, early in the darkened evening.

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