PEX Hill Observatory has been packed with visitors trying to catch a glimpse of Mars as it passes close to the earth.

The red planet is the closest it's been for 60,000 years and amateur astronomers from the Liverpool Astronomical Society have been letting curious sky watchers take a peak.

Pex Hill is one of their main observation sites.

Society president David Galvin, said: "It's very exciting. I have been observing since 1976 and every time I have seen Mars it has been small, and you can never really see much of anything.

"But there is nobody alive now who has seen Mars like this, it was during the last ice age that it was so this close. It's an exceptional event."

Pex Hill has a motorised observatory dome and 12 inch reflecting telescope that can automatically find objects in the night sky, while society members also set up their own telescopes in the forecourt.

Mr Galvin, a 45-year-old medical engineer at Broadgreen Hospital, said today's amateur telescopes were about as good as professional scopes from the 1960s.

The society has at least 120 members, around 20 of whom took part in last weeks BBC skywatch event at Jodrell Bank, Cheshire.

They meet at Pex Hill most Wednesdays and Fridays from 7pm onwards, and they are always happy to let visitors have a look at their scopes.

For more information on the observatory, call Geoff Regan on 0151-292-7165.