Daily Archives: July 16, 2021

Panelists will discuss the rovers recently started science campaign and groundwork for its next major milestone.

NASA will hold a virtual media briefing at 1 p.m. EDT (10 a.m. PDT) Wednesday, July 21, to discuss early science results from the agencys Perseverance Mars rover and its preparations to collect the first-ever Martian samples for planned return to Earth.

The briefing will originate from NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, where the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission is managed. It will air live on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agencys website and livestream on multiple agency social media platforms, including JPLs YouTube and Facebook channels.

Briefing participants include:

Members of the public also may ask questions on social media during the briefing using #AskNASA.

Perseverance landed in Jezero Crater Feb. 18. The rover team recently wrapped up an initial checkout period, which lasted 90 sols, or Martian days, and which included the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter test flight campaign. Perseverance kicked off the science phase of its mission on June 1.

A key objective for Perseverances mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planets geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith.

Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASAs Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.

JPL is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California.

To learn more about Perseverance, visit:

https://nasa.gov/perseverance

and

https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/

News Media Contacts

Karen Fox / Alana JohnsonNASA Headquarters, Washington301-286-6284 / 202-358-1501karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov

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NASA to Brief Early Science From Perseverance Mars Rover NASA's Mars Exploration Program - NASA Mars Exploration

The drama on Mars, in recentmonths, has been like nothing on Earth. The afternoon of February 18th, especially, was a cliffhanger. We knew that Perseverance, the new Martian rover, either had or hadnt made a successful landing, the catch being that we had to wait eleven itchy minutes or so for the result to be beamed across the void. Four days later came a video record of the descentthe umbilical slither of a cable and, at one end, the pop of the parachute, resplendent in red and white. Other delights: the shining heat shield that fell away like a dropped dime; the sky crane, resembling a Lego builders dream, from which the rover was lowered; and the russet dust below, roused from its immemorial nap. Top prizegoes to Ingenuity, the feathery helicopter that has since been deployed from Perseverance, climbing the air that almost isnt there. My only quibble is with the choppers name. It should have been called Astaire.

How can a feature film compete with kicks like that? Just as Mars is littered with the sad corpses of landers that crashed or failed to function (spare a thought for Schiaparelli, the Russian-European craft that slammed into the Martian surface with tremendous elegance, in 2016), so movies about the red planet are a junk yard unto themselves. I could swear that I saw Mission to Mars (2000), starring Gary Sinise and Don Cheadle, as well as Last Days on Mars (2013), with Liev Schreiber, but any memory of them has burned to a cinder; the exceptions have been the loner flicks, such as Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964) or The Martian (2015). The latest contender in this perilous genre is Settlers, which is written and directed by Wyatt Rockefeller. Here is a tale of hardy pioneers, in a little house on a prairie far, far away.

It was Elton John, no stranger to the astronomical, who pointed out that Mars aint the kind of place to raise your kidsa wise maxim, of which Settlers delivers ample proof. At the start, we meet Reza (Jonny Lee Miller) and Ilsa (Sofia Boutella), who live on a Martian farmstead with their young daughter, Remmy, and a piglet, who is, by some distance, the most upbeat figure onscreen. How long the family has lived there is unclear; what we do know is that Reza remembers Earth all too well, and that it was high time to get the hell out. He admits to Remmy that he never saw a whale, or an owl. How about an elephant? she says to him. Nope. Did you see anything? sheasks. He replies, Dogs.

The whole conversation is a model of economy. Why blow half your budget on re-creating a terrestrial dystopia,rife with special effects, when a few words can sketch out the eco-disaster and set our imaginations racing? Much of Settlers relies on a blending of high tech and the humdrum. We meet a robot, but hes a dented metal box with legs, and his name is Steve. Likewise, if the characters wear normal clothes, grow their own vegetables, and breathe without spacesuits or helmets, its because they inhabit a bio-dome; Remmy bumps against its transparent wall, like the fleeing hero at the end of The Truman Show (1998). Everything from the arch of the sky to the scree underfoot has a baked look, tinged with ashy pinks and umber, as if the dome were, in fact, one vast tandoori oven. Were very lucky to have this place, Reza says, adding, Someday, its going to be just like Earth. Uh-oh.

Initially, we assume that the familys hardscrabble existence is a solitary one. Then, one fine day, they are greeted by a message, LEAVE, smeared across the kitchen window in what could be mud, or blood. Just what you need on Marstrouble with the neighbors. Violence flares, death is meted out, and, before we know it, the head of the household is replaced. Reza makes way for Jerry (Ismael Cruz Crdova), who is pale-eyed and heavily armed. Whats truly disturbing is the manner in which Ilsa and Remmy, however sullenly, yield to the force of change, as if they knew it was bound to happen. We begin to realize that Martian civilization, if you can call it that, is governed by a basic Darwinian nastiness. Such is the moral of this movie: travel from one world to another, wielding your advanced technology, and youll wind up going backward.

Settlers has its problems, most of which are structural. Tense and firm at either end, it sags in the middle like a mattress. Also, the grownups are pretty dull and flat, their mood set to maximum glower; luckily, we have Remmyplayed first by Brooklynn Prince and later, as a teen-ager, by Nell Tiger Freeto steer us through the doldrums and to energize the plot. Prince, in particular, who made such an impact in The Florida Project (2017), is equally resolute and uningratiating here, and the severity of Remmys gaze, as she despairs of the adults and stalks off into the wilderness, carries real weight. The fast fade of her innocence shows what an unusual chunk of science fiction Rockefeller has built; stripped down, provocative, and wary of hope, it should be required viewing for Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, who has lofty plans for the colonization of Mars. In his words, You want to wake up in the morning and think the future is going to be great. Thanks to Settlers, we have a sharper vision of that future. I can see it now: the elderly Musk, allpassion spent, pottering around his scrubby Martian yard, feeding his swine, chiding the chickens, and wondering where his billions went.

There was a film about the red planet, in 2000, that bore the enterprising title Red Planet. Its leading man was Val Kilmer, who seemed less thanthrilled to be clad as an astronaut. In one scene, his character collapsed to the Martian ground, fighting for breath as his oxygen tank ran dry. Poor Kilmer. Five years earlier, hed had to squeeze into ribbed black rubber as the star of Batman Foreverno picnic, as he reveals in Val, a new documentary about his life and work. You can barely move, Kilmersays of the costume. You also cant hear anything, and after a while people stop talking to you. Movie after movie, cramping his style: it was enough to send a guy batshit.

These days, the cramping is real and very distressing. Kilmer has endured throat cancer, and although, happily, he is recovering, the treatment took a toll on his voice, which is a strangulated husk of what it used to be. In Val, he can address us only after pressing a button on his windpipe. Gone, too, is the comical beauty of the young Kilmer; how wistful it is to watch him as Iceman, in Top Gun (1986), opposite Tom Cruise, and to reflect on their subsequent paths. In the documentary, directed by Leo Scott and Ting Poo, we see Kilmer signing Top Gun posters at Comic-Con before throwing up in a trash can and being hurried away, in a wheelchair, with a towel over his head. Cruise, by contrast, will be returning later this year, scarcely altered, in the Top Gun sequel. We know that time both sullies and preserves, but does Hollywood have to make the discrepancy quite so cruel?

On the other hand, as Kilmer reassures us, I obviously am sounding much worse than I feel. He remains buoyed by an irrepressible candor, and by the fact that, after picking up a video camera at an early age, he has thousands of hours of footage at his disposalmanna to the films directors. We catch glimpses of a childhood in the San Fernando Valley; Kilmer was one of three brothers, who staged home movies of a rare inventiveness. We see clips of his time at Juilliard; two lines of a Hamlet soliloquy, again and again; and a dressing room in a New York theatre, where a couple of pallid striplings turn out to be Kevin Bacon and Sean Penn. We hear of Kilmers marriage to the British actress Joanne Whalley, and we learn that he was served with divorce papers while filming, or attempting to film, The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996) with Marlon Brando. Discretion, Im glad to report, is not the better part of Val. Watching this documentary is like having Dorian Gray give you a guided tour of his attic.

How, then, to account for the melancholy that veils the whole endeavor? Its not just that Kilmer lost his way but that the way, even at the crest of his fame, was never as sure as it might have been. Whether he was unlucky, ill-advised, or as hard to handle as rumor suggested is a quandary left unsolved by Val, which is so engulfed by his presence that the comments of othersfriends or foesare seldom aired. Whatever the case, the roster of his films is oddly glum. If his finest hour was in Heat (1995), thats because Michael Mann was running the show, and one wishes that Kilmer had enjoyed more frequent tutelage under first-rate directors. I guess he thinks so, too; thats why Val includes a snatch of an audition tape that he presented, in person and in vain, to Stanley Kubrick. One final mystery: aside from an ambiguous cameo in True Romance (1993), Kilmer was never cast as Elvis. And yet, with that fallen cherubs mouth, and that all-knowing grin, was he not born to play the King?

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Settlers and Val, Reviewed - The New Yorker

Maybe hold off on that Martian ice fishing trip. Two new studies splash cold water on the idea that potentially habitable lakes of liquid water exist deep under the Red Planets southern polar ice cap.

The possibility of a lake roughly 20 kilometers across was first raised in 2018, when the European Space Agencys Mars Express spacecraft probed the planets southern polar cap with its Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding, or MARSIS, instrument. The orbiter detected bright spots on radar measurements, hinting at a large body of liquid water beneath 1.5 kilometers of solid ice that could be an abode to living organisms (SN: 7/25/18). Subsequent work found hints of additional pools surrounding the main lake basin (SN: 9/28/20).

But the planetary science community has always held some skepticism over the lakes existence, which would require some kind of continuous geothermal heating to maintain subglacial conditions (SN: 2/19/19). Below the ice, temperatures average 68 Celsius, far past the freezing point of water, even if the lakes are a brine containing a healthy amount of salt, which lowers waters freezing point. An underground magma pool would be needed to keep the area liquid an unlikely scenario given Mars lack of present-day volcanism.

If its not liquid water, is there something else that could explain the bright radar reflections were seeing? asks planetary scientist Carver Bierson of Arizona State University in Tempe.

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In a study published in the July 16 Geophysical Research Letters, Bierson and colleagues describe a couple other substances that could explain the reflections. Radars reflectivity depends on the electrical conductivity of the material the radar signal moves through. Liquid water has a fairly distinctive radar signature, but examining the electrical properties of both clay minerals and frozen brine revealed those materials could mimic this signal.

Adding weight to the non-lake explanation is a study from an independent team, published in the same issue of Geophysical Research Letters. The initial 2018 watery findings were based on MARSIS data focused on a small section of the southern ice cap, but the instrument has now built up three-dimensional maps of the entire south pole, where hundreds to thousands of additional bright spots appear.

We find them literally all over the region, says planetary scientist Aditya Khuller, also of Arizona State University. These signatures arent unique. We see them in places where we expect it to be really cold.

Creating plausible scenarios to maintain liquid water in all of these locations would be a tough exercise. Both Khuller and Bierson think it is far more likely that MARSIS is pointing to some kind of widespread geophysical process that created minerals or frozen brines.

While previous work had already raised doubts about the lake interpretation, these additional data points might represent the pools death knell. Putting these two papers together with the other existing literature, I would say this puts us at 85 percent confidence that this is not a lake, says Edgard Rivera-Valentn, a planetary scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston who was not involved in either study.

The lakes, if they do exist, would likely be extremely cold and contain as much as 50 percent salt conditions in which no known organisms on Earth can survive. Given that, the pools wouldnt make particularly strong astrobiological targets anyway, Rivera-Valentn says. (SN: 5/11/20).

Lab work exploring how substances react to conditions at Mars southern polar ice cap could help further constrain what generates the bright radar spots, Bierson says.

In the meantime, Khuller already has his eye on other areas of potential habitability on the Red Planet, such as warmer midlatitude regions where satellites have seen evidence of ice melting in the sun. I think there are places where liquid water could be on Mars today, he says. But I dont think its at the south pole.

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Lakes of liquid water at Mars southern ice cap may just be mirages - Science News Magazine

If there were ever a "maverick" among the naked eye planets, that title would certainly go to Mars.

Just nine months ago, Mars came to within 38.8 million miles (62.43 million kilometers) of Earth, the closest it had been to us since August 2003, and it will not be that close again until September 2035. Mars appeared three times brighter than Sirius, the brightest star in our sky and even rivaled Jupiter in brilliance. In fact, Mars ranked as the third brightest nighttime object behind the moon and Venus.

But that was then, this is now.

Related: The brightest planets in July's night sky: How to see them (and when)

At this moment in time, Mars is on the other side of the brightness spectrum. On Sunday evening (July 11) look low in the west-northwest sky about 45 minutes after sunset.

You'll be able to use a very conspicuous benchmark in order to make a positive identification, for the first object to attract your attention will certainly be dazzling Venus. After you've found it, look about one degree to its immediate left and you'll see Mars appearing as a yellowish-orange, though by no means outstandingly bright star.

Don't expect the eye-popping object that adorned our skies in the early fall of 2020. Rather, right now Mars is much farther away from us at a distance of 231 million miles (371 million km). So, Mars will appear only about 1.7% as bright as it was nine months ago and a mere 0.5% as bright as Venus.

In fact, by virtue of it currently shining at magnitude +1.8, Mars has dropped in rank to the category of a second-magnitude object; to assure you make a positive sighting I would strongly recommend you use binoculars.

Another object appearing in the general vicinity of the two planets in the fading evening twilight will be the moon. Two days past new phase, it will appear as a hairline arc of light, just 4% illuminated and will be situated about a half-dozen degrees to the right of the two planets. If your clenched fist measures about 10 degrees at arm's length, then the moon and the two planets will be separated by roughly half a fist.

All three objects will remain in the west-northwest sky for about 90 minutes after sunset. Mars in fact is practically midway between two other noteworthy sky objects. At 45 minutes after sunset, the sky might still be too bright to see the moon and Mars readily with the naked eye, so already noted, you'll probably need binoculars. But after another 15 minutes have passed the sky will have darkened sufficiently so that you should readily be able to identify them with your unaided eyes, though they'll all be lower in the sky.

The scene will have changed noticeably the very next evening.

On Monday, July 12, the moon will have widened a bit to 9% illuminated and will have shifted to a spot nearly 7 degrees to the upper left of the two planets. But the positions of the planets have also changed; the distance between them will have been halved with Venus now sitting just about a half degree to the right of Mars.

Venus will continue to grow more prominent albeit rather slowly in the western evening sky through the balance of 2021.

As for Mars, it will continue to be evident as an evening object for another couple of weeks or so, closely passing the bright bluish 1st-magnitude star, Regulus on July 29. But as we move into August, it will become lost in the bright sunset glow and will then go on a hiatus of sorts as it transitions into the morning sky, eventually reappearing in the early morning sky around Thanksgiving to set the stage for its gradual return to prominence during 2022.

Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York'sHayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy forNatural History magazine, theFarmers' Almanacand other publications. Follow uson Twitter@Spacedotcomand onFacebook.

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Venus and the moon pass a fading Mars in the evening sky this weekend - Space.com

Chinas Mars rover, Zhurong, has captured new images of the Red Planet.

The images, released by the China National Space Administration, show the rovers parachute and partially burnt but still intact protective shell on the ground, with the rover in one corner.

Zhurong was 30m away from the shell and 350m away from the landing site when the pictures were taken, according to the CNSA.

Chinas Mars probe was launched in July last year and touched down on Mars on May 14 this year, making China the second country after the United States to land and operate a rover on Mars.

Since landing it has covered about 450m of Martian territory.

Zhurong has been working on the red planet for 60 Martian days over 61 Earth days - with plans to explore the planet for a total of 90 Martian days.

The six-wheeled rover is surveying an area known as Utopia Planitia, especially searching for signs of water or ice that could lend clues as to whether Mars ever sustained life.

The rover is equipped with instruments that can analyse Mars surface elements and minerals, a climate station, and a ground-penetrating radar, Space News reports.

But at 1.85m in height, Zhurong is significantly smaller than the USs Perseverance rover, which is exploring the planet with a tiny helicopter called Ingenuity.

NASAs Perseverance landed on Mars on February 18.

- with AAP

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Space news: Chinas Mars rover Zhurong releases new pictures of parachute from the Red Planet - 7NEWS.com.au

Skywatchers are in for an (inter)stellar treat this week. Look up and you can gaze upon a dazzling view of Venus, Mars and the moon Monday and Tuesday nights, according to EarthSky.Venus and Mars have been moving toward one another all weekend, culminating in their closest meeting during the early hours of Tuesday, July 13, around 3 a.m. ET. As seen from Earth, the planets will appear only half a degree or only a finger's width apart, according to NASA. This meeting of planets in the sky is referred to as a planetary conjunction.This is just an illusion, of course, because the two planets are extremely far apart in reality."Even during this conjunction, they will still be many millions of miles apart," said Giada Arney in a video on NASA's website. "But from our point of view here on Earth, they will appear to be close together." Arney is a research space scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and a deputy principal investigator of the upcoming DAVINCI+ mission to Venus. DAVINCI+ stands for Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging Plus.Since this timing coincides with the young moon's return to the night sky, the conjunction of Venus and Mars will appear alongside a slim crescent moon that is only 10% illuminated.Most observers will be able to see the three celestial bodies both Monday and Tuesday evenings, according to NASA. Viewers can look west about 45 minutes after sunset to spot the event these nights, but it can be viewed through July 14 if there are clear skies. Venus, the closest to Earth and the brightest planet in the night sky, will appear very slightly above the red planet. Mars, planet of war, mythologically speaking, will be much smaller and dimmer in comparison to the glowing Venus, planet of love. First look for gleaming Venus, then shift your eyes slightly below for the smaller speck that is Mars.Venus and Mars are both in the night sky in July, slowly approaching and eventually passing one another. Venus started the month below Mars and is moving up and away from the setting sun as the red planet drops and approaches the setting sun.The red planet is most visible at the start of July and becomes more difficult to spot as the month comes and goes, according to EarthSky. You likely won't see it at all come August. Venus, however, will remain in the evening sky for the rest of the year, reaching its greatest brightness on Dec. 4 along with the new moon.The conjunction is just one of the spectacular events you can catch in the night sky this year. Here is what else you can look forward to in 2021. Meteor showersThe Delta Aquariids meteor shower is best seen from the southern tropics and will peak between July 28 and 29, when the moon is 74% full.Interestingly, another meteor shower peaks on the same night the Alpha Capricornids. Although this is a much weaker shower, it has been known to produce some bright fireballs during its peak. It will be visible for everyone, regardless of which side of the equator you are on.The Perseid meteor shower, the most popular of the year, will peak between Aug. 11 and 12 in the Northern Hemisphere, when the moon is only 13% full.Here is the meteor shower schedule for the rest of the year, according to EarthSky's meteor shower outlook. Oct. 8: Draconids Oct. 21: Orionids Nov. 4 to 5: South Taurids Nov. 11 to 12: North Taurids Nov. 17: Leonids Dec. 13 to 14: Geminids Dec. 22: Ursids Visible planets It's possible to see most of these with the naked eye, with the exception of distant Neptune, but binoculars or a telescope will provide the best view.Mercury will look like a bright star in the morning sky from June 27 to July 16 and Oct. 18 to Nov. 1. It will shine in the night sky from Aug. 31 to Sept. 21, and Nov. 29 to Dec. 31.Venus, our closest neighbor in the solar system, will appear in the western sky at dusk in the evenings through Dec. 31. It's the second-brightest object in our sky, after the moon.Mars makes its reddish appearance in the morning sky between Nov. 24 and Dec. 31, and it will be visible in the evening sky through Aug. 22.Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, is the third-brightest object in our sky. It will be on display in the morning sky through Aug. 19. Look for it in the evenings Aug. 20 to Dec. 31 but it will be at its brightest from Aug. 8 to Sept. 2.Saturn's rings are only visible through a telescope, but the planet itself can still be seen with the naked eye in the mornings through Aug. 1 and in the evenings from Aug. 2 to Dec. 31. It will be at its brightest during the first four days of August.Binoculars or a telescope will help you spot the greenish glow of Uranus in the mornings through Nov. 3 and in the evenings from Nov. 4 to Dec. 31. It will be at its brightest between Aug. 28 and Dec. 31.And our most distant neighbor in the solar system, Neptune, will be visible through a telescope in the mornings through Sept. 13 and during the evenings Sept. 14 to Dec. 31. It will be at its brightest between July 19 and Nov. 8.

Skywatchers are in for an (inter)stellar treat this week. Look up and you can gaze upon a dazzling view of Venus, Mars and the moon Monday and Tuesday nights, according to EarthSky.

Venus and Mars have been moving toward one another all weekend, culminating in their closest meeting during the early hours of Tuesday, July 13, around 3 a.m. ET. As seen from Earth, the planets will appear only half a degree or only a finger's width apart, according to NASA. This meeting of planets in the sky is referred to as a planetary conjunction.

This is just an illusion, of course, because the two planets are extremely far apart in reality.

"Even during this conjunction, they will still be many millions of miles apart," said Giada Arney in a video on NASA's website. "But from our point of view here on Earth, they will appear to be close together." Arney is a research space scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and a deputy principal investigator of the upcoming DAVINCI+ mission to Venus. DAVINCI+ stands for Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging Plus.

Alan Dyer/VWPics/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

Since this timing coincides with the young moon's return to the night sky, the conjunction of Venus and Mars will appear alongside a slim crescent moon that is only 10% illuminated.

Most observers will be able to see the three celestial bodies both Monday and Tuesday evenings, according to NASA. Viewers can look west about 45 minutes after sunset to spot the event these nights, but it can be viewed through July 14 if there are clear skies.

Venus, the closest to Earth and the brightest planet in the night sky, will appear very slightly above the red planet. Mars, planet of war, mythologically speaking, will be much smaller and dimmer in comparison to the glowing Venus, planet of love. First look for gleaming Venus, then shift your eyes slightly below for the smaller speck that is Mars.

Venus and Mars are both in the night sky in July, slowly approaching and eventually passing one another. Venus started the month below Mars and is moving up and away from the setting sun as the red planet drops and approaches the setting sun.

The red planet is most visible at the start of July and becomes more difficult to spot as the month comes and goes, according to EarthSky. You likely won't see it at all come August. Venus, however, will remain in the evening sky for the rest of the year, reaching its greatest brightness on Dec. 4 along with the new moon.

The conjunction is just one of the spectacular events you can catch in the night sky this year. Here is what else you can look forward to in 2021.

The Delta Aquariids meteor shower is best seen from the southern tropics and will peak between July 28 and 29, when the moon is 74% full.

Interestingly, another meteor shower peaks on the same night the Alpha Capricornids. Although this is a much weaker shower, it has been known to produce some bright fireballs during its peak. It will be visible for everyone, regardless of which side of the equator you are on.

The Perseid meteor shower, the most popular of the year, will peak between Aug. 11 and 12 in the Northern Hemisphere, when the moon is only 13% full.

Here is the meteor shower schedule for the rest of the year, according to EarthSky's meteor shower outlook.

Oct. 8: Draconids

Oct. 21: Orionids

Nov. 4 to 5: South Taurids

Nov. 11 to 12: North Taurids

Nov. 17: Leonids

Dec. 13 to 14: Geminids

Dec. 22: Ursids

It's possible to see most of these with the naked eye, with the exception of distant Neptune, but binoculars or a telescope will provide the best view.

Mercury will look like a bright star in the morning sky from June 27 to July 16 and Oct. 18 to Nov. 1. It will shine in the night sky from Aug. 31 to Sept. 21, and Nov. 29 to Dec. 31.

Venus, our closest neighbor in the solar system, will appear in the western sky at dusk in the evenings through Dec. 31. It's the second-brightest object in our sky, after the moon.

Mars makes its reddish appearance in the morning sky between Nov. 24 and Dec. 31, and it will be visible in the evening sky through Aug. 22.

Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, is the third-brightest object in our sky. It will be on display in the morning sky through Aug. 19. Look for it in the evenings Aug. 20 to Dec. 31 but it will be at its brightest from Aug. 8 to Sept. 2.

Saturn's rings are only visible through a telescope, but the planet itself can still be seen with the naked eye in the mornings through Aug. 1 and in the evenings from Aug. 2 to Dec. 31. It will be at its brightest during the first four days of August.

Binoculars or a telescope will help you spot the greenish glow of Uranus in the mornings through Nov. 3 and in the evenings from Nov. 4 to Dec. 31. It will be at its brightest between Aug. 28 and Dec. 31.

And our most distant neighbor in the solar system, Neptune, will be visible through a telescope in the mornings through Sept. 13 and during the evenings Sept. 14 to Dec. 31. It will be at its brightest between July 19 and Nov. 8.

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Check out Venus, Mars and the moon close together in the night sky - KCCI Des Moines