[perfect stranger]

Where's my telescope?

[petuniasevan]

They sure are hyping up this closest approach of Earth and Mars. We're not talking a great deal of difference here; 34,649,589 miles isn't all that much of a difference from the usual 38,000,000 miles or so at perigee.

Believe it or not, this phenomenon happens about every 2 years as Earth overtakes Mars "on the inside track", so to speak.

One problem which crops up most times on close approaches like this one is that Mars' southern hemisphere is currently experiencing summer. The dust storms are already kicking up; soon the surface may be shrouded by a blanket of monotonous orange dust. See below for the last such occurrence.