This Week's Night Sky: Mars Lines Up With Stellar Twins
Before the stars Castor and Pollux lead the way to the red planet, a Green Giant will pair up with the moon.
The two worlds will be separated by only 3 degrees—less than the width of your three middle fingers held at arm’s length. The planet’s close proximity to the moon will make it easy to locate the magnitude-5.8 ice giant. Because of the lunar glare, however, binoculars will be needed to see the planet’s distinct greenish hue.
Mars should be an easy naked-eye target, but the 240-million-mile-distant red planet will be even easier to spot by scanning the quickly brightening sky with binoculars.
Just before local dawn begins to wash out the sky, look high in the east for the waning crescent moon to form a celestial triangle with bright Aldebaran to its lower left and the Pleiades to its upper left.
