On Sat, 30 Aug 2003 19:01:35 -0400, FERRANTE
wrote:

Around 11:45p.m.e.s.t., looking southeast, I saw what appeared to be a
really bright star, which I believe was Mars. Please know I am very
new to this. In fact, when I read about how close Mars was, I borrowed
a friends telescope (cheap one) and looked at this "star." What I saw
was a planet with a red outer ring with the rest looking sort of gray
or something (maybe blurry?). I am sure it was Mars, but why wasn't
the whole planet as red as the outer ring?

Thanks in advance for your help.
Mark Ferrante

Yes you probably saw Mars, however it is so close and so bright, it
reached perihelion yesterday, that its almost impossible to pick out
detail without some sort of filtration.

It should have appeared as very bright yet a very pale pinky/orange in
your scope

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