Help seeing Mars

Finally we are having low humidity and clear nights!
I am slightly night blind. I can drive at night, but I can't see the stars.
I can see the moon and Venus (when it is up) clearly and a few of the
brightest stars, but that's it. I'm in southern Ohio and from what I found,
Mars should be at its highest at around midnight now. It should be high in
the southern sky. Unless there is a cloud obscuring it (there are some
isolated clouds around tonight) I'm not seeing it : ( How big is it now?
Would it look like a dim, orange Venus or will it look like a disk, say 1/4
the size of the full moon?

Thanks for any help. John

Just about due south at 30 degrees up from the hoizon (1/3 of the way to
straight up). Naked eye it looks like a real bright start with a bit of a
redish tint. I just came in fron a few very productive hours with my 8"
relector and Mars looked great from Pennsylvania.

"jriegle" wrote in message
...
Finally we are having low humidity and clear nights!
I am slightly night blind. I can drive at night, but I can't see the
stars.
I can see the moon and Venus (when it is up) clearly and a few of the
brightest stars, but that's it. I'm in southern Ohio and from what I
found,
Mars should be at its highest at around midnight now. It should be high in
the southern sky. Unless there is a cloud obscuring it (there are some
isolated clouds around tonight) I'm not seeing it : ( How big is it now?
Would it look like a dim, orange Venus or will it look like a disk, say
1/4
the size of the full moon?

Thanks for any help. John

I saw it! must have been obscured by a cloud last night. After my original
post, I went out later on and saw it. At first I though it was the lights
from an aircraft because of its yellow orange tint, but realized it wasn't
moving. To me it looked like Venus, but dimmer and with a slight color to
it.
John

"Mark C" wrote in message
...
Just about due south at 30 degrees up from the hoizon (1/3 of the way to
straight up). Naked eye it looks like a real bright start with a bit of a
redish tint. I just came in fron a few very productive hours with my 8"
relector and Mars looked great from Pennsylvania.

"jriegle" wrote in message
...
Finally we are having low humidity and clear nights!
I am slightly night blind. I can drive at night, but I can't see the
stars.
I can see the moon and Venus (when it is up) clearly and a few of the
brightest stars, but that's it. I'm in southern Ohio and from what I
found,
Mars should be at its highest at around midnight now. It should be high
in
the southern sky. Unless there is a cloud obscuring it (there are some
isolated clouds around tonight) I'm not seeing it : ( How big is it
now?
Would it look like a dim, orange Venus or will it look like a disk, say
1/4
the size of the full moon?

Thanks for any help. John