The God of War

The ancient Greeks were fascinated by Mars. Its blood red color led them to attribute the planet to Ares - their god of war. After the Romans conquered the Greeks, they renamed the gods and the planet Ares became the planet Mars. To this day all planets in our solar system are named after Roman gods. 

It’s a bit late for this post but better late than never. 

Late in May, the planet Mars reached its brightest point in 10 years – with its brightest from May 18 to June 3.

Mars Close Approach was May 30, 2016.  At that point Mars' orbit came closest to Earth - a whisker's distance of 46.8 million miles (75.3 million kilometers).  On that date Mars reached its highest point around midnight - about 35 degrees above the southern horizon, or one third of the distance between the horizon and overhead.

Here in the first part of June, it’s still quite visible in the southeastern sky after sunset.

By mid-June, Mars will become fainter as Mars and Earth travel farther away from each other in their orbits around the Sun.

Later this month, the moon and Saturn will also be part of the show.

This photo was taken with an ordinary iPhone on June 1.

click on image to enlarge