For mere purposes of naked-eye observation the variations in the synodic period of Mars do not make any difference, for the planet is in view practically all night for many nights before and after opposition, with changes of brightness too small to be noticed by an untrained eye. For at least two months at the time of opposition it has almost the same aspect to us. At that time it is always in the east early in the evening, and shines all night. For nearly nine months afterward it is visible and conspicuous in the evening sky, appearing each evening nearer and nearer to the western horizon, until finally, in a little more than a year after opposition, it passes behind the sun and becomes a morning star. But, as it then rises before the sun and passes across the heavens in the daytime, it is invisible to us. It is pleasant, however, at such times to know that as the sun passes across the skies in its daily journey Mars is up there, within a certain distance from it, making the same journey with it, beaming down upon us with the same lively light that it shows at night, and could be as well seen at any time but for the too dazzling rays of the sun. Mars will be in conjunction in November of this year (1912), and will not be visible in the evening during 1913 until toward the end of the year. The next opposition after the publication of this book will occur in January, 1914. From that time until the following autumn the planet may be seen in the evening. In 1915 Mars will not be visible in the evening sky until late in the year. After November it will be in the east in the evening, rising earlier each evening, until at opposition, early in 1916, it will rise at sunset and will be visible in the evening during the entire summer and autumn of that year, but will not be extraordinarily bright. In 1917 it will be again invisible in the evening. In 1918 it will be in opposition in the early spring, and will shine in the evening all the rest of that year. It will not be visible in the evening in 1919, but will be in opposition again in the latter part of April, 1920, and will shine in the evening all of that year and the early part of the next, when it will again disappear from evening view and will not emerge again until it is nearing a fine opposition that will take place just at the beginning of the summer of 1922. The planet will then be in the constellation Scorpio, not far from Antares, and this will afford an excellent opportunity to see these two ruddy bodies near together.