It's a wonderful night for a moondance!

Tonight through Saturday night watch the gorgeous full moon rise. That bright orange object just to the left of the full moon tomorrow night (Friday the 29th) is Mars! If you have a look tonight you'll see the moon rises first, and Mars will appear to the lower left of the Moon. It is a wonderful weekend for a moondance! This is Mars' closest approach to Earth week! And you don't need a telescope to see the spectacle. Hopefully, we'll have clear skies. If so, just step outside and wave to the rover Opportunity when you look at Mars. Her side of Mars is facing Earth over the next two weeks. The rover Spirit, and HER side of Mars will be facing Earth towards the end of February.:-) I've updated my annual Mars Opposition webpage, and it is chock full-o-planetary goodness. Good Mars viewing information that is. :-) Here's the link: http://www.otastro.org/Mars2005/ Here's just one tidbit: *January 2010:* The diameter of Mars this year is a little smaller than it was last opposition in December 2007. It is at opposition on January 29th, and reaches its closest approach to Earth a few days earlier. View Mars all night, from sunset to dawn by month end, but your best views will be when Mars is higher in the sky, from several hours after sunset until after midnight. The (hours from) full moon rises 7 degrees below Mars on Friday night January 29th, offering a pretty side-by-side comparison until dawn. Mars won't be this big or bright again until 2014. Remember how the *moon and Mars* look side-by side this month. Then, in August, when that dopey Mars Hoax email comes back to haunt us, you can tell everyone you saw Mars in January 2010 when it was closest to Earth and it was definitely not as big as the moon. :-) In other news, if you are on Facebook, you can join JPL's "Friday Night with the Moon and Mars" viewing event. No, you don't have to go anyplace or do anything, it's just a fun "awareness" webpage for people to get all excited about Mars viewing. I hope some people will share their views and observations, tho'. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=455652415787&index=1 <https://ums.jpl.nasa.gov/owa/redir.aspx?C=a3cf8ac2513d460185ba7c9612e86b96&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.facebook.com%2fevent.php%3feid%3d455652415787%26index%3d1> Finally, some of you have asked how Mojo is doing after his prostate cancer surgery last week. You can read more about it on his blog if you are interested. :-) http://mojo.whiteoaks.com/ He's doing really well, but it will keep us off the sidewalk for a little while. Jane -- Jane Houston Jones Monrovia, CA Website: www.whiteoaks.com Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org What's Up January 2010? Mars Opposition! http://is.gd/6krYj What's Up Podcast on YouTube: http://is.gd/6WE77 Twitter: http://twitter.com/jhjones http://twitter.com/CassiniSaturn Blog: http://jane.whiteoaks.com/