Spark and Perl go looking
Everything is orange.
My whiskers are orange.
The sky is orange.
Dust.
It gets absolutely everywhere and it colours the daylight.
Look, there is a little robot!
Shall I say hello?
You may.
It will not answer.
It is busy looking at a rock.
For how long?
Years, Spark.
It is a very interesting rock.
There are two moons in this sky.
TWO.
And they do not agree with one another.
How can moons disagree?
The near one is in such a rush that it comes up in the west.
The far one goes round the usual way and takes days to cross.
So one goes backwards.
From here, yes.
It must be terribly confusing being a Martian.
Yes — a small orange star that does not twinkle.
Every couple of years it swings closer and gets much brighter.
You can see it from anywhere in the world — but not every night. Sometimes it is hiding in the light of the Sun.
Where to find Mars, and when
Where the Earth is clear, it climbs high in the sky. The darker it gets, the lower it stays. Where it is black, it never comes up. No shading at all: it does not matter where you live.
What do I need to see Mars?
You can see it with just your eyes.
Binoculars with 10× magnification show it, if you rest them on a fence or a wall.
A 150 mm telescope is what shows it properly. This picture is about 200× — which is what that telescope gives on a good night.
At that magnification it drifts out of view while you watch.
Put the planets in size orderPut the planets in orderJump the solar systemCould you stand on a planet or moon?Eyes, binoculars, or telescope?Which one does not belong?
Space
Put the planets in size order
Read on
Go and look