Wake up an hour or so before sunrise tomorrow (Monday) to catch the moon and the planet Mars high in your southern sky. Mars will be that bright star-like object near the moon. Although the lunar disk will look half-lit and half in shadow, the moon won’t actually reach last quarter till 9:56 a.m. Central Time on Monday morning.

Mars, the 4th planet out from the sun, is the outermost terrestrial or rocky planet. In their outward order from the sun, the terrestrial planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. Planets lying beyond these rocky worlds are the much larger gas giants. In their outward order from the sun, these 4 planets are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

Earthlings would probably feel more at home on Mars than on any other solar system planet. The orbital axes of Earth and Mars are almost identically tilted, so the seasonal change of sunlight throughout the year is similar on both planets. What’s more, a Martian day is only about 40 minutes longer than the 24-hour day on Earth.

By the way, if you’re more of a night owl than an early bird, you can watch the moon and Mars rise in the east around 11:00 p.m. tonight.

Written by Bruce McClure

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