By Myrica Hawker

Utah State students had the closest encounter with Martians on Tuesday night that they'll ever have . . . at least the closest encounter with the planet that gave name to these fictitious creatures.

More than 300 people gathered at Utah State for Tuesday night's Mars Observation party on the Quad, an event to celebrate a planetary alignment that hasn't occurred for about 60,000 years. There is only about 34.6 million miles between the two planets this week as they are at their closest distance, compared with the 60 million miles that usually separate them, reported USA Today.

"What I don't want you to think is that we're in any danger of collision," said Astronomy 1000 Professor Tonya Caldwell, after explaining that the two planets would have the least distance between them at about 4 or 4:30 a.m. Wednesday morning.

The party was organized by the physics department and began with a lecture by Caldwell, which was followed by opportunities to see Mars through telescopes that were set up on the Quad.

This week Mars should look about one-seventhy-fifth as large as a full moon, Yale astronomer Sean O'Brien told USA Today.

Mars is visible to the naked eye in this position in its orbit.

Freshman Trevor Watts said it looked like a big, yellow star or a stationary plane.

Watts said he attended the event not only because of his interest in it, but because it would help with his Astronomy 1000 class. Many attendees came for class credit.

Alenda Coburn, whose husband, James, organized the event, got a glance through the telescope before the clouds moved in at about 11 p.m., which obscured the view for those at the end of the long lines.

"It was kind of orangish with just a lighter patch at the bottom that's an ice cap. . . . But then as the clouds came over, you couldn't see the orangy-red anymore. It got so it was just a white circle in there," Coburn said.

In her lecture, Caldwell said that the landscape of Mars is actually brown, even though it appears red. The blackness of the sky creates an optical illusion, making Mars look red in contrast to the black.

Caldwell also said that the two planets will be so much nearer to one another than usual because in their elliptical orbits Mars is at the closest point to the sun while the Earth is farther away, which allows people on Earth to see Mars at its maximum brightness on the surface and at the least distance.

While Tuesday night was pretty cloudy and made viewing Mars more difficult, Fox 13 News that night reported that the rest of the nights this week will be good for viewing Mars because it is supposed to be less cloudy. Mars will still be visible for months, although not as bright as this week, reported Fox 13.

Events around the state are planned for viewing Mars this week, such as viewing parties each night through Friday at 11 p.m. at Stansbury Park Observatory in Salt Lake. For more information about Mars and other viewing opportunities at Utah State, visit www.physics.usu.edu.

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