Mars Red and Spica Blue

A bright pair of celestial objects, Mars and Spica appear paired in the sky during spring of 2014. Mars will shine brightly in its familiar rusty hue as it reaches its brightest of 2014 about a week after this image. The reason that Mars appears so bright is that Earth and Mars are close to each other in their long orbits around the Sun. Spica, on the other hand, shines constantly as one of the brightest blue stars in the night sky. The blue-hued star has been visible throughout human history and the sounds that identify it today date back to ancient times. Pictured above, the planet and the star were photographed rising together toward the southeast after sunset through old oak trees in Sweden.