Early one April morning, I looked out of my backroom window and saw two bright red objects just over the southeastern horizon.  Intrigued I ran to my computer booted up Starry Night and discovered that these two beacons were the supergiant Antares and the planet Mars.  The night was unusually clear and they were so prominent in the sky – I was drawn to them.  Several thoughts went through my mind, but the one that stood out the most was why haven’t I seen this before?  Surely such a spectacular scene must be common.   But then I realized that they did this just for me – they were inviting me to come and journey with them.  I accepted the invitation.

         Before I set out on my journey I needed a game plan and road map … where am I going and how am I going to get there.  So I decided to observe their travels across the sky together, paying particular attention to Mars’ path – since Antares is basically in a fixed position and Mars tends to ‘wander’.
         Several resources also motivated me to seek out Mars’ companions in space, phase, and surface features. Moore aroused my interest in the asteroids near Mars, particularly Eros and Vesta.  Also, according to Moore, “Mars can present a phase, and appear the shape of the Moon a few days from full,” (177).  Troiani’s article says “on a night of excellent seeing” I may be able to see Mars’ polar caps, limb hazes, white clouds, and moving dust storms (103).  But there is a downside, our latitude is not ideal for observing Mars because he’s “in the southern part of the zodiac” which places him just above our horizon where atmospherics may preclude ‘excellent seeing’ (102).
         For Antares, the National Audubon Society’s, Field Guide to the Night Sky offers a sixth-magnitude companion star that “seems to be green by contrast” (590).
         Now that I know where I’m going and what I may see when I’m there I decided it would be nice to have some background information …