March 1, 2021 at 9:27 am
As far as the UK is concerned, the planets are rather poorly-placed at present, all but Mars being hampered by their proximity to the Sun in the sky.
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However, despite currently being the most northerly planet, the appearance of Mars continues to deteriorate, it being unable to reach its highest position in the sky in darkness.
At the
start of March, Mars shines at mag. +0.9 and presents a diminishing disc 6.4 arcseconds across through the eyepiece.
By the
end of March, the Red Planet will have dimmed further to mag. +1.3 and through the eyepiece of a telescope shrinks to 5.3 arcseconds.
See Mars pass the Pleiades star cluster this month
See Mars pass the Pleiades star cluster this month
February 15, 2021 at 10:36 am
Over February – March 2021, the planet Mars will be passing south of the beautiful, blue open cluster M45, also known as the Pleiades or Seven Sisters, making for a fantastic night-sky observing or astrophotography target.
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The best time to see it will be 1-5 March, with closest approach on 3 March and the Moon nearby on 19 March, but you can start observing the two as we approach the end of February. Mars appears next to the Pleiades, 30 March 2019. Photo by Alan Dyer/VW PICS/Universal Images Group via Getty Images