Mars will be visible in the night sky throughout the month of October. On day 6, the red planet will come as close to Earth as it will be in the next 15 years.
The neighboring planet makes its closest approach to Earth at 14:18 GMT on October 6. At this time, Mars will be 38,586,816 miles from Earth, that is, about 62,099,460 kilometers away.
The next time the fourth planet in the Solar System will be so close to ours will be in 2035.
The closest Mars ever came to Earth in 60.000 years was in 2003. On that time, the distance between the two planets reached 34.65 million miles, that is, just 55.75 million kilometers. According to NASA, they won’t be that close again until 2287.
When Mars and Earth approach each other in their orbits around the Sun, the red planet looks very bright in our sky, making it easy to see with telescopes and even with the naked eye.
According to NASA, the neighboring planet gets close enough to ours for such an exceptional visualization only once or twice every 15 to 17 years.