APOD: Mars Red and Spica Blue

Mars will reach its brightest of this year this week. Mars looks so bright because it is so close to Earth. Spica, in the constellation Virgo, shines constantly as one of the brightest blue stars in the sky. Spica is blue in color, while Mars is reddish. Spica and Mars were photographed together toward the southeast in Sweden after sunset through old oak trees. I have seen Mars and Spica in the night sky, but it's always interesting to see a picture of the night sky from a different location.

APOD: Mars Near Opposition

Tonight Mars is between opposition and closest approach. The planet is looping through Virgo, opposite the Sun. This image was taken on April 3rd by a high-speed digital camera and 16-inch diameter telescope from Assis, Brazil. Mars' north polar cap is displayed in the photograph. You can clearly see whitish orographic clouds, which are water vapor clouds that are condensing in the cold atmosphere above Mars' volcanos. The night of closest approach will be April 14th or April 15th. I think that it is amazing that astronomers have telescopes and cameras that are advanced enough to create this clear image of Mars.

APOD: Lunar Farside

This is a photograph of the farside of the Moon. The Moon is tidally locked in synchronous rotation.The near side of the Moon is presented to us. However, the far side of the Moon can become seen. This picture is a mosaic from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's wide andgle camera is pointed towards the far side. The far side of the Moon looks very different than the near side. The far side is very rough and battered. The far side's crust is actually thicker, which makes it harder for molten material from the inside to flow to the surface and create a smooth maria. I think that this image is interesting because we mostly only see one side of the Moon.