Mars: a close encounter

Keep an eye on the heavens next week and watch for a brilliant red dot rising in the south. You will be witnessing a remarkable celestial event.

Mars, the bringer of war, will be closer to Earth than it has been for 60,000 years. The last time the Red Planet was this close, humans were clubbing mammoths to death.

The next few days will offer an unprecedented view of its features, a fact to be celebrated across the country with a host of revelries, including outdoor Mars-watching parties, lectures by leading astronomers and observatory open evenings. A National Astronomy Week has been declared to commemorate the event, while virtually every telescope in Britain will be trained on the Red Planet.

At Ruislip Lido, in the middle of the west London suburb's municipal park, the public will even be able to journey round the solar system towards the Red Planet - with a narrow gauge train as their spaceship.

'We are laying out the solar system to scale,' said organiser, astronomer Robin Scagell. 'The Lido rail track stretches for one and a quarter miles - that will represent the solar system's diameter. The sun will be represented by a bouncy red Space Hopper, the Earth by a pea and Mars by a small red light bulb. Overhead, the real thing will be studied with dozens of telescopes brought by local astronomy society members.'

Similarly, in Co Antrim, there will be late-night Mars party at Ballyclare picnic site; South Staffordshire Astronomical Society is offering an evening of 'Martian entertainment and star gazing'; while the Highland Astronomy Society has picked Culloden battlefield to hold a telescope party.

Punters will even get a chance to direct one of the world's largest telescopes towards the planet. The Open University, in conjunction with the BBC, is running a live show in which the audience will be allowed to direct the steering of the giant Isaac Newton telescope on La Palma in the Canary Islands.

'We will take calls on a first-come, first-served basis,' said presenter Chris Riley. 'Anything reasonable will be studied. However, Mars will be the programme's principal focus. This is a fantastic chance to study the only planetary surface you can see from Earth, the only planet man has a chance of walking on in the foreseeable future, and the best hope we have of finding alien lifeforms, albeit primitive ones. That should give people something to think about when they see it through a telescope or rising as a big red dot over their gardens.'

Unlike Britain's last great astronomical jamboree four years ago, when a total eclipse of the sun passed over cloud-covered Cornwall, this month's celebrations do not depend on location or timing.

'The closest approach is on 27 August,' added Scagell. 'But it doesn't matter if you miss it. Mars is going to look strong and bright for weeks. And you will be able to see it from every part of the country.'

Among those giving public talks during Mars week will be Cambridge astronomer Paula Martin, an expert on magnetic anomalies. 'It might seem an obscure subject, but if it was not for one very special magnetic anomaly, Earth's magnetic field, there would probably be no life here. That field protects us from the Sun's high-energy protons and neutrons. Mars has no such field. You would be fried in minutes if you stood unprotected on its surface.

Discovering why Mars has no magnetic field is now a major task for scientists who have launched five probes - including Britain's Beagle 2 - towards the Red Planet to take advantage of its historic close approach. All will arrive around Christmas and are being watched with extreme nervous ness given that the majority of probes sent to Mars have exploded, crashed or simply missed their target, victims of the Great Galactic Ghoul - as astronomers term their planetary jinx.

'Obviously it will be great when those probes reach Mars,' added Scagell. 'And it will be great to see all those scenes of Mars on television. But observing the real thing from your garden or from a nearby park will bring a far greater sense of excitement and bring a real feeling of being connected with another world. That is why the next few days will be so special.'