Let's pretend that it's about 7:00 in the evening. The sky begins to darken and we see the first few stars become visible. Notice the red letters which indicate compass directions.

At this time of year, the most prominent stars in the sky make up the constellations of Orion, Canis Major, and Ursa Major. While our eyes adapt to the darkness, let's point out a few constellations in the late winter sky.

There are a few other conspicuous lights here in our simulated sky. The bright object in the western sky is actually the Sun, so this perspective is very artificial. It reflects what the sky would look like this time of year at about 6:00 if we could see the stars while the Sun was still up. Here between the zodiac constellations of Cancer and Leo we see the waxing gibbous moon which will be full in 3 days. Three of the bright "stars" in the sky are in fact not stars at all, but are planets. Tonight (March 16, 2000) there are three solar system objects visible in the western sky. This object is Saturn. About 8^o to the west is the gas giant Jupiter. Another 10^o to the west is the object of our affection for this evening: Mars. Currently, Mars is approaching its farthest point from the Earth. That's why it appears to be close to the Sun (about 30^o from the Sun tonight).

So if we step outside tonight, the only information we can get about Mars with our naked eyes is that it is a red point of light in the constellation Aries. With the aid of Earth-based telescopes and robotic satellites, however, we have come to think of Mars as a world, in some ways much like our own world. Tonight's show is about our current knowledge of Mars.

Let's begin the ETSU Planetarium's first multimedia show!

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