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what is up for December this is the best

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month to look at Mars because Mars is

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going to be closest to Earth I'm Jane

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Houston Jones at NASA's Jet Propulsion

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Laboratory in Pasadena California earth

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is a little closer to the Sun so it

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orbits a little faster and Mars is a

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little further away from the Sun so it

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orbits a little bit slower but every two

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years or so we get really close to Mars

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and we have what's called opposition

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that means that Mars and the Sun are on

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opposite sides of the earth if you just

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step outside and look to the east after

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the Sun sets you'll see a bright orange

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star-like object and that's Mars and

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it's brighter than anything else in the

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sky there's nothing else brighter some

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of the features through a telescope will

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look sort of like a peachy color and

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kind of a dark gray color on some of the

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other features to see those colors you

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really will need a larger telescope but

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you'll still be able to see some

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contrast through the very smallest

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telescope the north polar area of Mars

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is really interesting and really worth

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looking at this month because Mars is

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just ending it's winter and during the

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winter time on Mars is North Pole

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there's a cloud that covers the ice cap

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as Mars finishes winter and begins

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spring this this polar cloud starts to

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dissipate and underneath the cloud is

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where the polar ice cap is now we're not

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sure if we'll be able to see it in

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december or not but you won't know

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without looking this month if you want

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to see the site of mars where the rover

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spirit is look at the beginning and at

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the end of the month and for opportunity

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you'll want to look at mars on the

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fifteenth you won't be able to see the

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rover's even with a telescope but it's

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really nice to know where they are

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besides the rover's there's several

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spacecraft that are orbiting the planet

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Mars Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance

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Orbiter are just two of them

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the European Space Agency's Mars Express