Red Planet Closest to Earth in !5 years.

Most of us doesn’t think that 35.8 million miles is close. But if we consider it in planetary terms, Close is close.  Today, July 31, 2018, Red Planet will be 35.8 million miles from Earth. It’s the closest Mars’s been to earth in 15 years. So, what is in it for space lovers?

Well, they’ll be able to watch the mars appear Super bright.  It’ll have its orange-red color. Won’t be any difficulty to locate at night. From july 27 to july 30, Mars’ orbit point is coming closer to earth. It will be closest to earth today on July 31, 2018 before dawn Eastern time.

What is the definition of the “close approach?” The least distance of Mars to earth is about 33.9 million miles. And it doesn’t happen very often. As both, Earth and Mars have elliptical orbits and both are tilted, a little, to each other, all close approaches are not equal. When Mars slowly reaches what astronomers define opposition, mars and the sun are on opposite  sides of the Earth. Green and Red planet align in opposition about every two years. That is the very reason, NASA’s missions to Mars are at least two years apart. In this way they take advantage of the closer distance. Opposition to mars is at its closest to the sun every 15 to 17 years. That is when a good views of Mars can occur from Earth. This is what happening on the early morning of July 31.

Does mars ever been closer to earth than 35.8 million miles? Yup. In year 2003, Red Planet was at the distance of about 34.6 million miles from earth. It was the closest Mars had ever been to earth in 60,000 years. This kind of closeness won’t occur until 2287. But don’t worry there is a close approach in 2020. The distance between earth and mars will be about 38.6 million miles.

What does this mean for a general sky watcher or a novice astronomer? It means that if you’re luck and have clear skies where you live, go outside in the overly night hours and look up. Red planet will be brighter than usual. And it will have an orange or red haze. It will be good if you look through a telescope.