Mars Is At Its Closest to Earth Since 2003 Today! It Won't Be Closer Until 2287

Space.com | ^ | July 31, 2018 11:54am ET | Chelsea Gohd,

[BenLurkin]

Early this morning, Mars made its closest approach to Earth since 2003 — but if you missed it, the Red Planet is still a magnificent sight to see in the night sky. Humanity will have to wait 269 years for Mars to get much closer, NASA says.

At 3:50 a.m. EDT (0750 GMT), Mars reached the closest point to Earth in its orbit. The Red Planet hadn't been that close to Earth since August 2003. (And when this last approach occurred, it was the first time in 60,000 years that Mars had come so close.) This occurrence follows last week's Mars event: On Friday (July 27), the Red Planet reached opposition with the sun and remained at its brightest in the night sky through Monday night and early today (July 31)

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You can see Mars tonight by looking to the southwestern sky. Weather permitting, Mars will be visible low on the southwestern horizon, with the moon shining to the upper left. Saturn will also be visible, as shown in the map below. {at link}

[fhayek]

Maybe Elon Musk can build a tunnel...

[DannyTN]

I call dibs on hot martian women or suits.

[MeanWestTexan]

Heard the radio play. This is when they attack.

Was there sudden flashes on the surface of Mars a couple of days ago? Near the South Pole?

[al_c]

Quick ... launch a mission to Mars! Time’s a wastin’!

[wally_bert]

Fire up the Cortina.

[Army Air Corps]

Ping.

[AzSteven]

Naaahhh - the chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one, they say...

[Slyfox]

Paging Soros, Clinton, Obama, Jarrett and all your friends. Your flight to Mars is now ready.

[mewzilla]

And a musical version!

"The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one," he said.

"The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one - but still they come!"

[Moonman62]

You can see Mars tonight by looking to the southwestern sky.

...

SOUTHEASTERN sky, not southwest. It’s been very bright the past few nights. I thought it was Jupiter at first.

[PROCON]

[ek_hornbeck]

Mars has been so bright lately that I thought that all I was looking at Jupiter all this time, until I looked on an astronomy map and realized that they were at opposite ends of the sky (i.e. Mars was rising in the east while Jupiter was setting in the west).

[DIRTYSECRET]

We’ll wait.

[Mr. K]

Slim Whitman will save us!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfTORdsPspw

[Deplorable American1776]

They discovered a lake near the South Pole, so I decided to go fishing there (and buy lakefront property, too). MarsVacation.com is the Airbnb for Mars...😀

[Hostage]

Perfect time to deport 30,000,000 illegals.

[HombreSecreto]

Ack! Ack! Ack!

[Moonman62]

Mars has been so bright lately that I thought that all I was looking at Jupiter all this time, until I looked on an astronomy map and realized that they were at opposite ends of the sky (i.e. Mars was rising in the east while Jupiter was setting in the west).

...

Same here. Although the orange color made me suspicious. I just checked an online planetarium and Mars is brighter right now, -2.77 vs. -2.13 for Jupiter.

[TADSLOS]

Better hurry, before Marvin gets a lock on us.