Mars is as close as it's going to get

This was taken with the Hubble space telescope.

As I mentioned last week, I bought the $300 ETX-70 hoping to see Mars up close. Anyone who is vaguely familiar with astronomy is probably laughing at the "typical newbie" naiveté when it comes to astronomy. The ETX-70 is a 2 inch or so telescope. 2 inches describes the diameter of the lens. Basically it just means that the dot in the sky is a slightly sharper bigger dot.

If you want to have a shot at seeing anything of Mars, you really need at least an 6 to 8 inch telescope and realistically a 14 inch one would be even better. Of course, those cost a lot more. 

It's too late for me to see Mars but I can go on the web and see stuff way beyond any telescope I could afford would show anyway. But I am thinking of upgrading to the ETX-125 which is, I believe a 6 inch telescope that should let me see Jupiter and Saturn pretty decently. Mars will still be a dot but a much bigger dot.

If you get a chance, go outside and look. After 9pm or 10pm you can see Mars in the South East. It's the brightest "star" in the sky