[Mr. Mojo]

I checked out Mars last night (for the first time since this historic approach) and was expecting to see what I usually see when checking out the red planet, but a little brighter. Well, I was surprised. It looked far bigger and brighter than I expected ....about as bright as Venus, but its distinctive red glow making it all the more impressive. To me, it was more impressive looking at it with the naked eye rather than with binoculars or a telescope, probably because using those instruments doesn't allow one to compare it with other celestial objects at a single glance.

[mdittmar]

Can see it from where I sit,a bright orange dot directly southeast from my location in central WA.(The Great Northwest)

[Dialup Llama]

On other close approaches, I remember Mars being much redder. At times, Mars looks a bit like Venus in its color. Is there something about the Martian icecap or the angle of the planet's tilt that makes appear less red this time?

[quietolong]

OK here’s a question for some one.
On the 27th. at 5:51 a.m. EDT Mars will be at its closest.
What point on the earth will be the closest to Mars?

[Atchafalaya]

Mars real, Gore loomed.

[AGreatPer]

Too busy to look during this time. Will wait for the next time it is close.

[hole_n_one]

[Dialup Llama]

This is from the sky and telescope website. This seems to be saying that the brightness of Mars makes its color less.

http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/ataglance/article_110_1.asp
"Mars shines in the southeast in evening. With your naked eyes, compare it to much fainter Antares, the orange "Rival of Mars," in the southwest. You'll find them at the same height right after dark. How do their colors compare? When Mars is distant and no brighter than Antares, their colors appear more alike than they do now, though of course Mars has not physically changed; colors appear to wash out in an object that appears very bright to the eye. "

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

My husband is quite the amateur astronomer and he says that Mars is twice as big (in the telescope lens) as it usually is when he was viewing a lot over a decade ago.

[DoughtyOne]

Aldo Vitagliano, of the University of Naples in Italy, calculated that Mars hasn't had as close a brush with Earth since Sept.12, 57617 B.C., when Neanderthals
ruled but modern man had begun to make inroads.

If I remember correctly, it was the14th.  Smirk.

[RightWhale]

distinctive red glow

It looks paler than usual--less saturated color, still reddish, but more of a light orange. It's like the redness is less pronounced while we are closer.

[GunnyHartman]

We're DOOMED I tell ya, since Mars is now so close it is only a matter of time before this guy unleashes his lludium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator on our planet!