Mars Is About To Be Extremely Bright

The ruddy, dust-swept world of Mars is rapidly converging on our own. Over the next several weeks, the orbits of Mars and Earth will grow ever-closer, culminating in a view of the red planet in the evening sky not seen in either brilliance or size since 2003. Back then, the distance between Earth and Mars was only 34.6 million miles, the closest the two planets had come to each other in more than 60,000 years.