Mars will be closest to the Earth in October – Here’s how to see the Red Planet

Here is amazing news; Mars will be in our closest proximity, which will allow us to look at our cosmic neighbor properly. According to NASA’s report, it would be easily spotted from midnight onwards in the ongoing month of October.

According to the National Aeronautical Space Agency, from October 6 onwards Mars and the Earth will just be 62.1 million kilometers or 38.6 million miles distant from each other. As per EarthSky, this will be the nearest Mars would come towards the Earth till the next 15 years.

NASA in its latest skywatching guide shared that October is the key time to view Mars as it reaches its peak point at midnight and then will be visible all night.  This reason behind this event is that the Red Planet will come in direct opposition to the Earth from the Sun and will remain at close proximity to the Earth in its own orbit. Normally, this kind of event takes place every two years.  Eventually, this occurrence is possible because of the fact that the Earth and Mars both spin around the Sun in their respective elliptical orbits in the same direction but at own speeds and at a different distance.

The nearest range of Earth and Mars at a distance of 54.6 million kilometers will perhaps be possible when Earth stays far away from Sun, which is called Aphelion, and Mars remains closest to the Sun, called Perihelion. In 2018, Mars and Earth both planets came close to each other at a distance of 57.6 million kilometers.

The most interesting event of the Earth and Mars coming closer with the shortest possible gap ever occurred in the year 2003 when the distance was just 55.7 million kilometers. It was the shortest distance between both terrestrial planets in the past 60,000 years. According to EarthSky, Mars will again come close to us in the year 2287 at a distance of nearly 55.69 million kilometers.