Telescope sales boom in Japan as Mars closes in

Posted by tourdemars to General News at August 22, 2003 12:00 PM

As Mars drifts its closest to Earth for 60,000 years, Japanese amateur astronomers are snapping up telescopes, globes of the Red Planet and some are even heading to Arizona to watch the spectacle. On August 27, Mars -- the fourth planet from the Sun -- will shine red and orange and as bright as Jupiter, the giant of our solar system.