Mars is currently in the night sky in the Southern Hemisphere! It's not as bright as Jupiter or Venus, but it does have a distinctive orange/red hue. Click here to find Mars in the night sky with the AstroViewer sky chart.
To whet your appetite, here is a delightful poem about Mars, written by Trevor Anders when he was just 10 years old.
The Red Planet
In all his glory and in all his splendor
He gleams with a demon red;
He gleams like the coals inside the fender,
He gleams through the night while we’re in bed.
He shines in red in all his glory,
Clothed in scarlet like a demon king.
He has witnessed an old, old story
That no-one has heard, not anything.
This story is how the earth came to be,
How life began in primitive ways,
How gigantic lakes became the sea.
This story he’ll keep to the end of his days.
Nergal was his Babylonian name;
Feared with terror and with awe,
Known the most throughout all fame –
Mars, the mighty God of War.
Trevor Anders – aged 10
