Night Sky Photography -- 02-17-2021 -- Moon, Mars & Aldebaran Between Winter Storms -- Congratulations Perseverance!

Good evening, fellow night sky watchers!

This past week, for one night only, the skies cleared after days of freezing cold wintry rain we frequently get in South Carolina this time of year. I was able to capture a wonderful shot of the moon with the planet Mars and the bright star Aldebaran high overhead about an hour after sunset on Wednesday, February 17th.

You can see our beautiful Luna on her way to her First Quarter Phase in line with the slightly faint coppery planet, Mars and the bright star, Aldebaran near the top.

As I have mentioned before in previous blog posts, the giant star Aldebaran is the brightest star in the Constellation Taurus The Bull, and at 65 light years from our own sun is the fourteenth largest star in our night sky. The name Aldebaran derives from the Arabic term al Dabaran, meaning "the follower" because it seems to follow the Pleiades in the night sky.

Mars recently made headlines here on Earth with the successful landing of the NASA rover, Perseverance, on the surface of the Red Planet's Jezero Crater as part of the Mars 2020 mission launched last summer. This is part of the ongoing mission by NASA to search for signs of ancient -- or possibly current -- microscopic life on Mars, as well as learning more about our world's closest planetary neighbor.

The landing actually took place on Thursday, February 18th, the day after this photo was taken millions of miles away here on Earth.

The first colorized photo of the surface of Mars taken by NASA's Perseverance
rover at the bottom of Jezero Crater on Thursday, February 18, 2021.
Image courtesy of NASA.

Well, as always I hope y'all enjoyed this post. Please let me know what y'all think in the comments below. As always have a wonderful evening and be sure to keep your eyes to the night skies.