Mars rules the sky

I had once the privilege to spend a year on an Antarctic station. I used to sit all night in a heated polycarbonate dome to look at auroras. I spent many hours marvelling at the best night sky on this planet. No light pollution, no smoke, no clouds, it was just perfect. Well, I now live near Casino, far enough off town not to be disturbed by streetlights. No auroras here but the sky is almost as good!

I love looking at the planets. At the moment you can look at Mercury above the Sun between sunset and 8:20 pm. But Mars is the star of the show! Being opposite the Sun, Mars is at its shortest distance from us, in full phase and visible from sunset to sunrise. If you look at your East sky around 9-10pm, you can’t miss this big red spot, the brightest thing visible. If you look North and high, Jupiter and Saturn are easily visible: right on the ecliptic, of course, about half-way between Mars and where you guess the Sun is.

You can even have a glimpse at Uranus! Until 2 weeks ago I thought you needed a telescope. I spotted it yesterday night around 10pm. It is hardly visible with naked eye but not bad with binoculars. If you like, you can get its exact location and an excellent sky map on https://theskylive.com/guide. Around 9-10pm, just put your location then scroll down to Uranus and click Sky Map. You will be amazed!