See the "Martian Triangle" in the Sky Tonight!

By Nancy Atkinson - August 8, 2012 at 8:37 PM UTC | Observing
martian-triangle.jpg

If -- like me -- you've been focusing on all the great images and news coming from the Mars Science Laboratory, perhaps you've missed the great view of the "Martian Triangle," now visible in the night sky at twilight! Astrophotographer John Chumack hasn't missed the view. This image is from August 6, 2012 from his observatory in Yellow Springs, Ohio.

The Martian Triangle show starts at twilight, and you can find it by looking low in the southwestern sky. The star at the top is actually the planet Saturn, the star on the bottom left is Spica, and the bright spot on bottom right is the planet Mars. And remember, somewhere in your field of view, there's a few spacecraft on and around Mars and another orbiting Saturn.

John took this image with a modified Canon Rebel Xsi DSLR and a 47mm Lens, at F5.6, ISO 800, 10 second exposure. See more of John's wonderful astrophotos at his

Flickr page

or at his website,

Galactic Images.

Want to get your astrophoto featured on Universe Today? Join our Flickr group or send us your images by email (this means you're giving us permission to post them). Please explain what's in the picture, when you took it, the equipment you used, etc.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com