Explanation:
It was a dark and stormy night.
But on 2003 August 29th the red planet Mars, near its
closest
approach
to Earth in almost 60,000 years, shone brightly in the sky against
a background of stars in the
constellation Aquarius.
In the foreground of
this
scary view, huge thunder clouds are
lit by lightning
strokes from within.
Mars,
of course, has nothing to do with storms on Earth, though
both have the power to excite the
imagination and wonder
of
Earthdwellers.
Tonight, the night before
Halloween, Mars will also
pass close to the Earth,
closer than it will come during the next thirteen years.
And once again, the red planet Mars will look particularly bright,
although much smaller and dimmer than the
Moon and even Venus.
