Mars' brightness has nearly doubled in the past month, becoming easily viewable by the naked eye in the evening sky. One of the better viewings will be Monday, November 26th at around 10 pm. It will be found in the Gemini constellation, almost touching the moon. The picture to the right was taken by an amateur astronomer this week, with a basic 10 inch telescope. You can see the blue-ish "North Polar Hood" pretty clearly because it is winter in the Northern Hemisphere. This article explains the North Polar Hood as "a giant icy cloud that forms over the Martian north pole during winter." The ice crystals floating around in the cloud scatter the light to make it appear blue, which makes for a great sight on top of the bright red planet. I don't have a telescope, but we have pretty clear skies this weekend in Oregon so I'll be trying to spot Mars with just my eyes.
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