How To Find Mars In The Night Sky

Mars is one of the five planets visible in the sky with the naked eye. Because Mars is red, it is particularly distinctive. To find it in the sky, you can pick up the current month's copy of "Astronomy" or "Sky and Telescope" magazine; a sky map is on the center pages of both magazines. Or you can look at the sky map at AstroViewer.com (see Resources). "Sky and Telescope's" website also gives text descriptions of planets' locations in the sky (see Resources).

Step 1

Open AstroViewer.com.

Step 2

Click on the "Start Astroviewer" button. The star map will open in a separate window. The dotted line on the map is the ecliptic, along which the sun, moon and planets travel.

Step 3

Click on the "Sky Map" tab. Click on the "Location/City" button and select the nearest city. Click "OK."

Step 4

Look along the ecliptic for a red dot. If you hover your mouse pointer over, you'll see that its label is "Mars."

Step 5

Move the arrows on the right and bottom of the map to center the red spot, so that you can zoom with the left arrow. Enlarging the map, you'll better see the configuration of the stars near Mars. However, because Mars is red, you'll be able to distinguish it fairly easily from the surrounding white stars.