In an article on Courant.com, staff writer David Wakefield discusses Mars' position in the night sky for the month of November. Mars will steadily brighten and rise throughout November. The Red Planet rises around 9:20 and will be up around 6:15 by the end of the month. The Earth has an inside track and will catch up to Mars in late December. This not only brings the two planets to one of their closest proximities, but it also means that Mars will appear "full" as the entire disk will be illuminated by the Sun. The planets' relative motion will also put Mars into retrograde, meaning it will stop its apparent eastward movement against the background stars and it will appear to move to the West. This eastward motion will cease November 15th.
For an animation of the retrograde motion visit: mars.jpl.nasa.gov/allabout/nightsky/nightsky04-2003animation.html
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