Mars spectacular

This weekend was pretty relaxing. I wasn't on call for Friday into Saturday, so Jade and I went out to dinner, shot some pool, and went to a show at the Blue Note. Copious amounts of different kinds of beer were drunk. We came home and hung out on the deck for another couple hours where more beers were had. Just before I went to bed, I looked up in the sky and saw a bright orangish star at about 2 o'clock from the rising moon. It was really bright compared to the rest of the stars. I then realized I had read an article about Mars being closer to Earth than it had been recorded history, and that it wouldn't be this close again for at least 200 years, if not more. Sure enough, the article said that mars would rise in the east late in the evening and would be the brightest object besides the moon. Mars hit it's closest mark on the 28th I think. I recomend everyone enjoy this spectacle because it won't happen again for several generations. I saw it about 2am, but you can probably see it starting around 10 pm or so. Look to the east and about 45 degrees up from the horizon. It's hard to miss, because it is damn bright. As I stared up at mars I started thinking about the fact that we have 2 tiny robots crawling around on the surface of a planet that is only a small speck in the night sky. It is really quite amazing if you think about that we can get an object there and control it from the earth, millions of miles away. After reading in the news about all the stupid shit we as humans do to each other, this event reaffirmed my faith in mankind. The people that put the rovers up there have no malevolent intent. It is merely the quest to understand and explore that guided the huge effort it took to get the rovers to mars. I think this is the one of man's greatest attributes, that and pure altruistic compassion....which is becoming a rarity. Oh yeah, if you happen to have a modest 75 power telescope the planet is supposed to appear as detailed as the moon is to the naked eye. I wish I hadn't given my telescope up all those years ago, this would be the perfect time to break it out and get some use out of it. Either way, it's still a sight to behold. Enjoy.
-J