It's a rare opportunity to see the Red Planet and the green planet in the same binocular field of view.
This weekend, Mars and Uranus will appear just two widths of a full moon apart as they go into a rare planetary conjunction in the constellation of Aries.
Look around 1:00 a.m. local time where you are, with the very closest conjunctions visible early on Monday and Tuesday . How to see the Mars-Uranus conjunctionAlthough it's technically possible for some stargazers to see Uranus with the naked eye under perfectly dark conditions, it's a much better bet to use binoculars or a small telescope. Binoculars will reveal both planets in the same field of view. Mars will appear reddish while Uranus a blue-green hue.
Why Mars is brighter than UranusThe two planets will not be the same brightness during their conjunction. Mars is gradually brightening in the night sky as it gets closer to Earth and will this weekend it will shine at a magnitude of 0.2, which is about the same as a bright star. It will be about 130 million miles from Earth. That's a lot closer than the much larger ice-giant Uranus, which will be a whopping 2 billion miles distant and will shine at a magnitude of just 5.8.
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