Lost in the skies

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Mars, Sirius and me

It was very interesting to watch both Mars and Sirius shining brightly in the eastern sky.Both were dazzling, one in red and the other in blue. you can spot the 3 stars in a straight line quite easily. It is Orion's belt. Follow the arrows as in the picture.

Finish your supper, take a leaning chair and a rug after 10 PM and make yourself cozy and warm. Both the beauties are pretty high in the sky. Over the next few days, Mars gets even brighter with both their magnitudes almost getting equal at -1.4. Don't miss out on the spectacular sight.

The 'magnitude' of an object tells us how bright it is. Objects with negative magnitudes are brighter than postive magnitudes. Sun's magnitude is -26.73 and the full moon stands at -12.6. Now you got it. A first magnitude star is about 2.5 times as bright as a second magnitude star. Humans can usually see upto magnitude 6.