Sisters of Mars
A lonely tree on a hill? Look again. There is a full universe to discover.
As featured by NASA’s Astronomy Photo of the Day, April 6, 2021
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We are never really alone.
Pulling up on the dark country farm road (with potholes the size of my car’s tires), the wind screaming over empty fields and one lone tree up on the hill…
That sounds like a lonely night, right? Maybe the start of a murder mystery novel? It’s probably better to just get back in the car and go home…
Except that, scenes at night are never how they look at first blush. I knew that lonely hilltop tree was in the perfect position to have Mars and The Pleiades setting flanking it.
What on first sight seems lonely and desolate, actually comes to life when you take the time to stop and see.
Photographing the night sky gives me perspective.
Mars and the Pleiades (commonly called the seven sisters) are seen here at the closest conjunction they will have again until 2038, Mars a mere 2.6˚ south of the Pleiades.
In this image they look like cosmic neighbours (Hey Perseverance, have a cup of sugar to spare?!) when in reality they are hundreds of light years apart.
So close they could touch each other from our perspective, and so far they will never meet from anothers.
Stepping outside my car into that bitter wind and seeing Mars and the Pleiades plainly up in the sky, hearing my camera click as they slowly set over the horizon, it reminds me to keep that perspective.
And above all, it reminds me that even if we don’t know it, we are not really alone.
Sisters of Mars is an edition of 8 available in TWO sizes:
30” | 36”
