Jupiter and Mars, the two Alpha-Males of our solar system look as if they are competing amongst themselves as to who shines the brightest. The results are spectacular as both shine so big and so bright they can easily be mistaken for satellites or even flying saucers.

When looking at the skies in the evening, one can easily spot to the East a very bright and big star with a unique red tone to it. This is Mars. We usually do not see it as big as it looks now, but these days it takes its closest position to Earth as possible and hence looks bigger and brighter than ever.

Do not be fooled to think it would be seen as some photo-shopped picture that goes around the web every so often. Every few months I see these photoshopped pictures fooling people to think Mars will be so close that we will actually see its hills with the naked eye. Ridiculous! So – this will NOT be the case, but Mars will look as big and bright as usually we see Venus or Jupiter – and for Mars this is big enough!

If one will follow Mars’ movement during the night they will see it move slowly upwards to mid-sky and later on towards dawn setting out to the West .

During the evening we can also see another planet, taking its position in the other side of the skies – to the West. This most dominant and bright star with a light-blue tone to it is Jupiter, and it will only appear at the beginning of the evening, as it sets around 23:00 these days.

It is highly recommended to go outside and try to spot these two bright stars that remind us that we are only part of a much larger puzzle…