Close encounter between Mars and Earth

This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image released 03 November, 2005 shows Mars 28 October, within a day of its closest approach to Earth on the night of 29 October. The large regional dust storm(C) appears as the brighter, redder cloudy region in the middle of the planet’s disk. This storm, which measures 930 miles (1500 km) has been churning in the planet’s equatorial regions for several weeks now, and it is likely responsible for the reddish, dusty haze and other dust clouds seen across this hemisphere of the planet. Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys High Resolution Imager took this image when the red planet was 43 million miles (69 million km) from Earth. Mars won’t be this close again to Earth until 2018. Mars is now in its warmest months, closest to the Sun in its orbit, resulting in a smaller than normal south polar ice cap which has largely sublimated with the approaching summer. AFP PHOTO/

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) –Mars and Earth got unusually cozy Monday night, drawing closer to each other than they have in more than a decade.

The two planets passed at 120.7 million kilometers (75 million miles) away from each other, which NASA said will not happen again until July 31, 2018.

The average distance between Earth and Mars is 225 million kilometers (140 million miles), with the neighboring planets sometimes reaching distances as far as 402.3 million kilometers (250 million miles) when they are diametrically opposite the Sun.

The last time Mars and Earth came this close was in 2005.

In 2003, the celestial bodies were within 56.3 million kilometers (35 million miles) — the nearest they had been in 60,000 years.

Stargazers will have to wait until 2287 to see Mars at that distance again, according to NASA.

Mars has shone particularly bright since mid-May, as it approached and aligned with the Earth and the Sun.

The Red Planet will stay big and bright through mid-June, after which its intensity will diminish.

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