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what's up for January Mars the red

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planet Mars is at its closest and

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brightest for the year this month it

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will rise at sunset and set it dawn and

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it's a welcome sight after being absent

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from our early evening skies for a year

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hello and welcome I'm Jane Houston Jones

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at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in

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Pasadena California it takes one year

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for earth to make one complete orbit of

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the Sun Mars is farther from the Sun

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than Earth is and it orbits a little

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slower Mars goes around the Sun in

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little less than two earth years Mars

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opposition's occur when the Earth passes

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between the Sun and Mars this is also

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when Mars is closest to Earth in its

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orbit but because Mars has an elliptical

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orbit opposition occurs every two years

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and two months the next Mars opposition

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is on January 29th if you step outside

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and look to the east after sunset this

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month you'll see a bright orange star

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like object rising that's Mars and it's

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brighter than anything else in the

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eastern sky through a moderate sized

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telescope Mars will look sort of peachy

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colored and you can make out some of the

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darker grey features like syrtis major

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the north polar cap is the easiest

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feature to see when you look at the

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north polar cap in early January and

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again on February 18th you'll see the

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location of the Phoenix lander it's to

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the south of the polar cap on the week

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before and after January 14th you'll see

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the sight of Mars where the rover spirit

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is located and you'll see the location

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of opportunity the other rover around

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February 3rd the same viewing areas will

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rotate around for you to see every 40

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days from now until December after that

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Mars vanishes in the evening Twilight

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even with a telescope you won't be able

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to actually see the Rovers or Phoenix

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but it's really cool to know they are up

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there and that you can see the side of

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Mars where they're located

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besides the rubbers there are several

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spacecraft orbiting Mars and in late

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2011 the Mars Science Laboratory will

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launch on a mission to determine the

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planet's habitability Mars has inspired

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humankind for centuries even though it's

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going to be visible all year long it

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will look biggest and brightest this

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month and into February so that's the

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best time for you to view the red planet

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this year you can easily spot two other

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planets in the night sky this month

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Jupiter sets in the West just after

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sunset by the end of January and Saturn

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now rises in the east by late evening

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in fact if you stay up until midnight at

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month end you can see both Mars and

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Saturn with the beautiful constellation

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Leo the Lion stretched out between red

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Mars and golden Saturn you can learn all

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about NASA's missions at WWDC gov that's