SkyHunt: May 2001

The Red Planet Returns

After years far from Earth and obscured in the glare of the Sun, Mars has returned to North American skies in grand fashion.

Seeing Mars from the GTA:
The coming months will be the best in more than a decade to view this place of literary and Hollywood dreams.

Mars will be visible, bright in the night sky over the GTA all spring and summer. That’s because in mid-2001, Mars will be closer to the Earth than it’s been since 1988.

What you’ll see:
You can see Mars as a bright orange “star” rising in the south just before dawn in May. It will be the brightest point of light between the constellations Sagittarius and Scorpius.

Through a small to medium telescope, you may also see two white blobs on each end of the planet – Mars’ massive polar ice caps.

Get the gear:
To see these details on Mars, you’ll need the quality optics and superior contrast of a medium-sized refracting telescope. Quality astronomical telescopes like the NewStar 70mm diameter refractor – available exclusively at EfstonScience – start at under $220 and are far superior to department store-variety scopes often sold for the same price.

To reveal even more detail on Mars and other celestial objects, you’ll need a solid mount and a larger diameter scope. Terence Dickinson, renowned astronomy author and editor, considered the NewStar 4.7" equatorial refractor’s superior detail-resolving and rock-solid mount to be the best value around $990 – a great deal considering that scopes in this size can cost upwards of $4,000