Mars

[louiselux]

On the 27th of August Mars will be at its brightest since 57,000 BC. So that means the last people to see it like this bright were Neanderthal men. To give some sense of scale, Venus at its very brightest registers -4 on the start brightness scale thingy (technical term there), and Mars will register -2.9. So, oooh!

And also, I need to go to bed.

Comments

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Correct me if I'm wrong, as I may well be, but the brighter something is, the lower it is on the magnitude scale? So doesn't that mean Venus will still be brighter than Mars?

Thanks for the tip, by the way. I absolutely adore stuff like this. Dragging my family out in the middle of the night is just a bonus! ("You want to go out and see a dot-thingy millions of light-years away blow a fuse?")
*carefully notes date in diary*

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

So doesn't that mean Venus will still be brighter than Mars?

Oh, um, yes! I didn't get that across very well did I? *g* The lower the number the brighter the star.

Well, I'm going to try and be out in a field somwhere - apparently Mars rises at 9.30 pm.