Mars At Closest Proximity To Earth In 11 Years

On May 30, Mars will be closer to earth than it has ever been in almost a decade. The next opportunity you may see the red planet this close will be in 2018

According to NASA, Mars will be at a distance of 46.8 million miles (75.3 million kilometers), and it will reach its highest point around midnight.

From May 18 to June 30, the red planet will appear larger and brighter in the night sky, 10 times brighter than it appeared at the start of this year.

So what causes this cosmic event? As explained by NASA, the distance between Mars and Earth depends on the gravitational tugging by planets as the pull slightly determines the shape of their orbits.

Since orbits of Mars and Earth are also somewhat slanted with respect to each other, this "close" distance is rarely witnessed.

Daily Mail notes that mars is becoming more elongated over time. This means that in future, the red planet will glide even closer to the sun and extend even more into the solar system.

In an article, CNN mentions that the best time to spot Mars if you are in the United States is around midnight Eastern time.

"It will be the brightest "star" that you'll see in the southeastern sky and it will appear a bit reddish," the article describes.

For those outside US, you can identify its location by using several apps or through this website.

The minimum distance from the Earth to Mars is about 54.6 million kilometers. Mars made its closest approach to Earth in 2013 and it won't happen again in 2287.

In other celestial event, Mercury will cross in front of the disc of the sun and the event, expected on May 9 will be seen from earth.

"The transit will be visible to viewers across the globe, except in Australia and easternmost Asia. The transit begins at 7:12 a.m. EDT (1112 GMT), the midpoint occurs at 10:58 a.m. EDT (1458 GMT) and the transit ends at 2:42 p.m. (1842 GMT). For the western half of North America, the transit will already be in progress when the sun rises," Space.com notes.

On June 30, Mars will resume its normal eastward route as it comes out of retrograde.