APOD 4.3

Todays APOD is, as per Mr. Percival's instruction, from April 11th.

This is a photo of Mars taken on the third of April. Notice how clear the photo is despite the fact it was taken with a high speed camera and a 16" telescope in Brazil? That is because it is nearing it's closest approach as it's orbit aligns with ours in just the right way to make us much closer than normal. In the photo, we can see it's north pole as well as the clouds that fly over its countless volcanoes. It will be closest to us on the 14th, the same day as the lunar eclipse, and will be about 1/100th of the size of the moon (which is actually pretty big).