Last night I did my duty and stepped out onto my balcony and looked up at Mars at the exact moment (give or take a few hours) of its closest approach to Earth in 60,000 years. It looked like a big star to me. But then I remembered that I am in Bangkok, a huge city of 8 million people with a lot of light pollution and air pollution.
Once I made that realization, I was more impressed by the brightness and clarity of Mars. When I looked at the rest of the sky, I was able count the number of stars visible -- I'd guess there were about 50. So from my view, Mars was by far the brightest object in the sky.
I am expecting the view this weekend will be a lot better. Piyawat and I are heading for a weekend getaway to Kao Yai National Park and from there, I hope we see much more than 50 stars.
It has been too cloudy here, as well the city lights, to be able to see anything. When I was home in NC several weeks ago, Mom and I are pretty for certain we saw Mars (redish/orange "star" in the sky) late one evening as we were going inside from the front deck.
Hopefully, it'll be pretty one of the next few evenings so I can go to an observatory, either here or in Pcola, and really get to see Mars.
And it's the closest it'll be for the next 2085ish or so years.
Have a great weekend!
Love you!!