Mars' retrograde motion is beginning to gather momentum now ~ here we see Mars moving away from the Beehive Cluster, M44, and heading back toward Gemini.  Mars is brightening, now at magnitude -0.94, which is brighter than all stars save for Sirius.  The sky is bright because the last quarter Moon was low in the east, under Mars, a few days after its close passage by the red planet. Unannotated image