{"id":847009,"date":"2026-08-05T13:18:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T13:18:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/847009\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T13:18:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T13:18:15","slug":"mars-is-back-the-red-planet-returns-to-the-morning-sky-this-month-heres-how-to-see-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/847009\/","title":{"rendered":"Mars is back! The Red Planet returns to the morning sky this month. Here&#8217;s how to see it"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Mars is a morning planet in August 2026, slowly pulling away from the Sun to become a favourable observational target.<\/p>\n<p>At the start of the month, it rises just under four hours before sunrise, appearing to the naked eye like an orange mag. +1.3 star.<\/p>\n<p>On 1 August, through a telescope Mars presents a tiny disc with an apparent diameter of 4.7 arcseconds.<\/p>\n<p>On this date, Mars will be in Taurus between the bull\u2019s horns as marked by mag. +1.6 Elnath (Beta (\u03b2) Tauri) and +3.0 Tianguan (Zeta (\u03b6) Tauri).<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1500\" height=\"1130\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Syrtis-Major-d3b8089.jpg\" alt=\"The triangular Syrtis Major can be seen in centre of this image of Mars. Note: south is up in the image. Credit: Pete Lawrence\" class=\"wp-image-50788\"\/>Credit: Pete Lawrence<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"881\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/mars-august-2026.jpg\" alt=\"Chart showing the location of Mars in the sky throughout August 2026. Credit: Pete Lawrence\" class=\"wp-image-191359\"\/>Chart showing the location of Mars in the sky throughout August 2026. Credit: Pete Lawrence<\/p>\n<p>On 9 August, a 17%-lit waning crescent Moon sits 3.9\u00b0 north of Mars, creating a dramatic pairing in the dawn twilight.<\/p>\n<p>At this time, Mars is heading east among the background stars, drifting out of Taurus towards Castor\u2019s foot in Gemini and the mag. +5.5 open cluster M35. By 15 August, Mars will be 0.6\u00b0 south of M35\u2019s centre.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As the month ends, Mars will begin to rise around 01:00 BST (00:00 UT). Its brightness remains constant at mag. +1.3, but its apparent size does increase slightly to 5.1 arcseconds.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/observe-mars-july-2022-87fa2c1.jpg\" alt=\"A 200mm or larger telescope will reveal surface features on Mars. Credit: Pete Lawrence\" class=\"wp-image-109772\"\/>A 200mm or larger telescope will reveal surface features on Mars. Credit: Pete Lawrence<\/p>\n<p>This may still seem tiny, but every increase is welcome as it allows more detail to be seen. At the moment, Mars is tilted to present its northern polar cap towards Earth.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This is a great time to start following Mars as changes begin accelerating ahead of its next opposition.<\/p>\n<p>Its apparent diameter will be:<\/p>\n<p>5.1 arcseconds at the start of September<br \/>\n5.7 arcseconds at the start of October<br \/>\n6.6 arcseconds in November<br \/>\n8.0 arcseconds in December<br \/>\n10.3 arcseconds in January<br \/>\n13.8 arcseconds at opposition on 19 February 2027<\/p>\n<p>Mars August 2026 \u2013 at a glance<\/p>\n<p>Best time to see: 31 August 04:40 BST (03:40 UT)<br \/>\nAltitude: 27\u00b0<br \/>\nLocation: Gemini<br \/>\nDirection: East<br \/>\nFeatures: Surface albedo markings, polar caps<br \/>\nRecommended equipment: 150mm or larger<\/p>\n<p>Share your observations and photographs of Mars with us by emailing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/advice\/mailto:contactus@skyatnightmagazine.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">contactus@skyatnightmagazine.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mars is a morning planet in August 2026, slowly pulling away from the Sun to become a favourable&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":847010,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[49,48,66,306],"class_list":["post-847009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=847009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/847010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=847009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=847009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=847009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}