URANUS, Mars and the Moon will make a pretty close approach next week.
Stargazers should note down January 21 on their calendars if they want to view the celestial event.
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The trio should be visible with the naked eye.
However, you may need a pair of binoculars just to be on the safe side.
The Moon, Mars and Uranus will appear in a vertical line.
They’ll be at their closest on January 21 but you can try looking from January 19 as the trio creeps together in the sky.
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The Moon and the planets will be just above the southwest horizon after sunset.
If there are clear skies you should easily be able to spot Mars shining brightly just above the Moon.
Uranus will be much fainter and below Mars.
Astronomers think Uranus will actually be around 150 time fainter than the Red Planet.
That’s why binoculars may be useful.
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and Uranus is the seventh furthest away.
Mars facts
Here’s what you need to know about the Red Planet…
- Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun
- It is named after the Roman god of war
- The landmass of Mars is very similar to Earth but due to the difference in gravity you could jump three times higher there than you can here
- Mars is mountainous and hosts the tallest mountain known in the Solar System called Olympus Mons, which is three times higher than Everest
- Mars is considered to be the second most habitable planet after Earth
- It takes the planet 687 Earth days to orbit the Sun
- So far, there has been 39 missions to Mars but only 16 of these have been successful
Uranus was knocked onto mysterious tilt by ‘cataclysmic collision with Super Earth’
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In other space news, four Supermoons will be gracing the night sky in 2021.
Dead alien civilisations could be littered all over our galaxy, according to a new study.
And, Nasa has announced its first team of astronauts that will be heading for the Moon.
Will you be watching the planets meet up this month? Let us know in the comments…
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
