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Is Mars visible at night sky of Michigan these days?

I was trying to search for Mars from Michigan (at elevation of 30 deg and azimuth of 220 deg) around 11:45 PM with binoculars of 20x60 but didn't get successful.

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  • $\begingroup$ This sort of time-specific question is not what this site is intended for; however I will try to give you an answer... $\endgroup$
    – Jeremy
    Jun 17, 2014 at 11:15
  • $\begingroup$ I know, but could get a better forum to ask. $\endgroup$
    – kaka
    Jun 17, 2014 at 13:29
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    $\begingroup$ Install Stellarium on your PC, and configure it for your geographic region (choose the nearest city). Then it will give you a live map of the sky with all the interesting objects you could possibly want to observe. $\endgroup$
    – Florin Andrei
    Jun 17, 2014 at 18:32
  • $\begingroup$ Its great app. Thx $\endgroup$
    – kaka
    Jun 17, 2014 at 20:29
  • $\begingroup$ Why do you keep typing MARS in all caps? It is not an acronym - it is Mars. $\endgroup$
    – Jeremy
    Jun 18, 2014 at 20:52

2 Answers 2

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On 16 June 2014 at 11:45pm, it was up not far from 220az 30alt. It was actually 232az, 27alt, almost level and to the right of Spica. It would have been easily seen without binoculars being -0.2 visual magnitude.

You can answer this sort of question yourself by getting a planetarium app like Stellarium, The Sky X, Sky Safari, or one of many others.

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  • $\begingroup$ Would you please let me know that, how big MARS can be, in comparison to moon or north star. $\endgroup$
    – kaka
    Jun 17, 2014 at 13:30
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    $\begingroup$ @kaka The North Star is a star, and therefore it always looks like a simple dot, even in a telescope. The Moon - you know how big that is; it's about 30 arcmin, or 1/2 degree of arc. Mars varies a lot in size; sometimes it's closer to Earth, other times it's far away. At the greatest distance, it's as small as 3.5 arcsec; at the closest, it is 25 arcsec; in any case, to the naked eye it always appears as a mere dot; you need a telescope to resolve the actual disk. Currently it's 10 arcsec and decreasing. We had a good observational season recently, when it looked good in a backyard telescope. $\endgroup$
    – Florin Andrei
    Jun 17, 2014 at 18:31
  • $\begingroup$ @FlorinAndrei thanks for very terse and precise answer. $\endgroup$
    – kaka
    Jun 17, 2014 at 20:33
  • $\begingroup$ I saw yesterday both MARS and Saturn in south at 220Az, 35El and 180Az, 25El respectively, at 10: 45 pm, 17 June 2014 :) $\endgroup$
    – kaka
    Jun 18, 2014 at 19:55
  • $\begingroup$ I would definitely say so. It is quite visible from South Carolina. it should a little to the south for you around 10 pm I'm guessing. It's pretty much right over my head here. $\endgroup$
    – TheBluegrassMathematician
    Jun 20, 2014 at 2:54
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Yes, it is. Mars is bright (-0.14 magnitude) and is in the constellation Virgo. It's the brightest star in this region of the sky (SW during the evening) and should appear as a very bright reddish star at a good altitude.

If you need a guide, try to find Leo (W). Virgo is at the left of the constellation.

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