Mars has always been a fascinating object in the night sky, probably because it is one of the brightest objects (not taking the Moon into account) in the night sky. Another reason for being a fascinating object has probably been that Mars moves in relation to the background stars. This happens because the planets orbit the Sun and are much closer to us than those in the background. Therefore people on Earth have seen the movement of Mars. Ancient people believed that those moving objects, planets, are actually gods. Therefore they named them from Greek gods. Jupiter is the “King of Gods”, while Mars is the “God of War”.

All the planets move along the Ecliptica, which is the rotation line of the planets. All the planets can be found close to the Ecliptica. Planet Mars looks yellow-orange in color and it can easily be spotted without a telescope or binoculars.

Mars is easy to locate, but its position depends on the time of the year and the location you are observing Mars. As an “evening star”, Mars can be seen late in the evening. The best time to observe Mars is in late August and early September, around 7-9 pm. Mars is located very close to Aquarius constellation. In fact, it is located between Aquarius and Capriconrn constellations. In northern hemisphere Mars can be seen close to the horizon, only 5-15 degrees above the horizon.

In northern hemisphere, look towards south around 7-9 pm. in late August or early September. You should be able to see Mars immediately because it is so bright. In case you cannot see it, look 5-15 degrees above horizon, depending how north your observation place is located. If you can find Aquarius and Capricornus constellations, you should find Mars in between those two as shown in the figure below.

Are you interested in finding more objects? Check out my articles on finding Vega and finding Sirius.

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