It looks like Mars will have a close encounter with the earth during The Feast of Tabernacles.?? During ancient times some cultures believed that Mars was associated with war.?? ("Beware the Ides of March.").?? Some Jewish scientists have speculated that in ancient times, Mars and its moons would approach the earth, much closer than today.?? And there would be an electric charge (like lightning) between the planets.?? They speculated that this might have been what is referred to as, "The Sword of the Lord," in the Old Testament.?? They also speculated that one of the moons of Mars, was the cause of Noah's flood.?? That moon shattered and resulted in craters on our moon, breakup of the ice that encased and protected our earth, earthquakes on the earth that opened the waters below and created the astroid belt.?? ??? John

Earth and Mars are converging for??a close encounter??this Fall
https://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?day=21&month=08&year=2020&view=view

APPROACHING MARS:??By the time you finish reading this sentence, you'll be 40 km closer to Mars.

Earth and Mars are converging for??a close encounter??this Fall, one of the best since 2003, and their separation is rapidly shrinking--negative 8 km/s as of Aug. 21st. You are??literally??approaching the Red Planet. Just this week the brightness of Mars??surpassed that of Sirius, the brightest star in the sky. Suddenly, Mars is almost bright enough to see in daylight and an easy target for backyard telescopes.

The best is yet to come. By the night of closest approach on Oct. 6th (0.4149 AU), Mars will more than double in brightness again, outshining everything in the night sky except Venus and the Moon. Throughout this apparition, the south pole will remain tilted toward Earth, giving observers a good view of the breakup of the ice cap as Martian spring turns into summer.

https://www.spaceweather.com/images2020/21aug20/skymap.png

Can't wait? Right now, a good time to look is just before daybreak when Mars is high in the southern sky. Keep watching as twilight creeps up the sky. The planet's burnt orange hue looks beautiful when surrounded by the day's first hint of morning blue:??sky map.