Opposition of Mars

Tonight was the opposition of Mars, an event that only happens every two years when the sun, Earth and Mars form a straight line.  We also are closer to Mars tonight than we've been in the last 6 1/2 years, approximately 57 million miles.  As I was eagerly awaiting this event over the past few days, I was getting pretty dispirited about the weather forecast; cloudy with rain.  Jen encouraged me not to give up, despite the heavy cloud cover this evening.  So, I set up the 12" Dob on the deck and the clouds miraculously parted just as Mars cleared the tree line in my line of sight. Jen's hyper-vigilance once again influenced natural events. The radar image below shows I had a perfectly placed small window to see this event.  Amazing!  I've been doing so much astrophotography lately, I had forgotten the pure joy of looking through the eyepiece. I have never seen Mars look so stunning. A deep reddish hue fading into the polar ice cap. Stunning.  I was gifted with about 40 minutes of good seeing before the clouds reclaimed the sky.  Fleeting but fantastic.