Mars glistens; Jupiter-Saturn conjunction approaches

Not the view through my telescope!
This image of Mars was captured by
the Hubble Space Telescope in 2018.
 (Credit NASA, ESA, and STScI)

It was a nice, clear night last night and I dragged the telescope out of the basement for a look at how Mars was coming along. The answer: swimmingly! That is to say, neither the seeing nor the transparency were very good despite the "clear" sky. One look at the nearly full Moon revealed that there was plenty of moisture in the air, as its orb was surrounded by a rainbow halo of light. 

Thus my views of Mars from last night were mostly on the wobbly side. In the occasional moment of steady seeing I was able to spot the Red Planet's southern polar cap, but couldn't catch much else in the way of surface features.

This is not to say that the views of Mars were bad. Though we're nearly two months past its closest approach to Earth for this particular apparition, Mars is still bright red and it's quite high in the evening sky. Maybe the view was even better without a telescope! Our forecast in Seattle is for another clear evening today, and I plan to give Mars another look.

Another sky spectacle is approaching. Jupiter and Saturn have been hanging out together for much of the year, and they've pulled noticeably closer together in recent weeks. The two are headed for a great conjunction on Dec. 21, 2020, when they will appear less than one degree apart in the western sky! In fact, they'll be within six one-hundredths of a degree at their closest and will appear as one bright object! For reference, the full Moon appears about half a degree wide.

This article from Sky at Night magazine explains the conjunction, which will be the closest of our solar system's two largest planets in about 400 years! Fingers crossed for clear skies that night!