On Christmas Eve, Mars will shine brighter than any star
Christmas Eve will bring us the best look at Mars we’ve had in a couple of years — the brightest, in fact, that we’ll see the red planet until 2016.
On Christmas Eve, Mars will shine brighter than any star in the sky. Only the moon, which will be nearly full that night, and Venus are brighter. It will be visible in the evening but brighter late at night.
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after Mars, the Roman god of war. It is also referred to as the “Red Planet” because of its reddish appearance as seen from Earth.
Of all the planets, Mars’s seasons are the most Earth-like, due to the similar tilts of the two planets’ rotational axes. However, the lengths of the Martian seasons are about twice those of Earth’s
You don’t really need to watch on that one particular night. Mars is bright now and will remain bright for weeks afterward. But Dec. 24 it will be the brightest.
