It might even look a tad scary, compared to how it normally looks in the sky, because of its size. Now, on the night of May 30, the orbits of Earth and Mars will bring the two planets to their closest approach in over a decade! The Ringed Planet reaches opposition on 3 June and lies just 15 degrees (almost the span of an outstretched hand at arm’s length) to the left of Mars.
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Keep an eye on the sky this week – for an opportunity to see two planets.
You can go to Slooh.com to join and watch this live broadcast, snap and share your own photos during the event, chat with audience members and interact with the hosts, and personally control Slooh’s telescopes. At the time, it was the closest Mars had been to Earth in 60,000 years.
Technically Earth is on the inside lane of the Solar System racetrack so we orbit the Sun faster than Mars does – over 50% faster.
Mars will appear as a brighter red dot in binoculars.
Mars is going to make a close approach with Earth.
Mars just crossed the border into the constellation Libra, and Saturn is in Ophiuchus. The closest the planets come during such an approach is 33.9 million miles, while the furthest apart is 249 million miles.
Rao added that the event where Mars is closest to our planet and the sun at the same time – known as “perihelic oppositions” of Mars – occurs once every 15 to 17 years.
After that, the next Mars Close Approach will take place on July 31, 2018.
“Mars is bright enough right now that you can easily see it as long as there’s nothing physically in your way”. Most are slightly inclined relative to that midline, moving above their sun’s equatorial plane at one part of their orbit and below it at another.
Look to the east around nightfall and to the south around midnight. On Monday, the distance from the Earth to the red planet will be 47 million miles.
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Once darkness finally sets in, the three brightest “stars” you see are actually planets; Jupiter in the west, and Mars and Saturn in a celestial hug in the low southeast sky.
