![]() Many keen-eyed onlookers may have already noticed the fiery planet growing brighter in our night skies the past few months, making it easy to spot with nothing more than the naked eye. Learn how the red planet formed from gas and dust and what its polar ice caps mean for life as we know it. (Here's how close encounters with Mars have helped us map the red planet.)įrom its blood-like hue to its potential to sustain life, Mars has intrigued humankind for thousands of years. Such a close approach just a few days after opposition means the July 27 alignment will be your best bet to see the red planet shine its biggest and brightest until 2035. Mars will make its closest approach to Earth for this year on July 31, coming just 35.8 million miles (57.6 million kilometers) away. ![]() That means the distance between the two worlds varies, making some oppositions better than others. But unlike Earth’s more circular orbit, Mars’s path around the sun is fairly elliptical. Mars reaches opposition only once every 26 months, when Earth manages to overtake the planet in its tighter track around the sun. This is when the sun, Earth, and Mars are aligned in a straight path, so that Mars appears to rise in the east just as the sun sets in the west, making the sunlit side of the planet visible all night long. ET (5:00 UT) on July 27, Mars will reach what astronomers call opposition. Photograph by Babak Tafreshi Meeting MarsĪt 1 a.m. Babak was aboard the flight along with two Airbnb guests who won the chance to be among the first to witness the solar eclipse before it crossed the U.S. This photo is one of the first glimpses of the 2017 total solar eclipse captured by National Geographic photographer Babak Tafreshi in a jet above the Pacific at the moment the eclipse began.
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