Well its that time of the millennium again: I'm sure most of you have heard about the Mars opposition, but for those who have not, the gist of it is that the radius of Mars' eliptical orbit is at its minimum, while Earth's is at its maximum (perhaps an oversimplification).

The result is to bring these worldly cousins into a position of proximity such as has not been occupied for some 59 619 years. Mars will be visible with the naked eye, and is relatively easy to spot (being the brightest object in the sky, other than the moon). Some useful viewing instructions may be found at Space.com.

Some more nice pictures of the the red planet may be found here and here. Some make excellent wallpapers, if you're into that kind of thing. There's also a cool animation here.

Update: being the shutterbug that I am, I snapped some pictures with my digital camera and uploaded them to the gallery. The quality may not be that great, but cool nonetheless!