mars in leo

Mars & M44 by horstm42 on flickr

Rainy. There have been a few mornings recently when I was able to view the constellations visible at that time of day. Over a period of days, I had unexpected difficulty identifying the constellation Leo. I thought I could find the right triangle, but couldn't find the backward question mark that is half the constellation. Finally, all the stars came into view in the expected places. When I found the backward question mark, it was immediately apparent that there was a fairly large celestial object within Leo that wasn't supposed to be there. It had to be a planet, and I guessed that it must be Mars. Sure enough, I found out that Mars is indeed in the constellation Leo at this time. Mars looks very much like a star. It was gratifying and surprising to realize that I knew this piece of sky well enough to know when something was out of place. I couldn't have done that a couple of years ago.