On 09/03/2022 5:12 AM Forrest Erickson <forresterickson@...> wrote:

Mars is right now in the face of Tarus the Bull. It will make a loop (retrograde motion) above that face in the coming months with the most westerly part of the loop at about the same westward point as Mars is at now. South of the ecliptic now, the loop will move north ward so Mars will be looping from below the ecliptic to above it. The first "stand still", when retrograde motion starts is about late October (like Halloween). The middle of retrograde is when opposition happens at about the beginning of December. The second "stand still" and resumption of prograde (easterly) motion is early January.

An aesthetically nice conjunction will be in April when Mars will pass near M35. Through Binoculars the swarm of stars that is M35 will contrast nice with the much brighter and red Mars.

Below is a screen shot from Cartes du Ciel of the week by week progress.