Later this month, Mars will be closer to Earth than it has been in 15 years.
"Backyard Astronomer" Gary Boyle says the biggest celestial event of the year will take place on the night of Friday, July 27 with the closest approach of Mars since 2003. He says people can start to see Mars now in the southeastern sky starting at about 11pm.
"The closer anything is, the more detail you get to see on a planet or anything. Unfortunately, as luck would have it, Mars is going through a global dust storm," explains Boyle. "Even though we do see the big beautiful bright orange object in the south-east sky, [even] with a telescope you might not see much detail."
Boyle says it's still an amazing experience to look and point at the planet.
"Looking at night, even in the city if there's a nice southern horizon or if you get up at midnight or 1am, that orange ball in the sky, which is the brightest object in the area, is Mars," says Boyle.
The red planet can now be seen rising earlier each night in the southeast leading up to the big event at the end of July. Mars will rise at the following times:
- June 30 at 10:52pm with the moon on the lower right
- July 07 at 10:26pm
- July 14 at 9:57pm
- July 21 at 9:27pm
- July 27 at 9pm with the moon on the lower right and Mars closest to Earth
"Mars has been the works of science fiction writers and movie makers with the Martians that have always been depicted throughout the years," he says. "We'll be sending human missions to Mars starting hopefully by 2024 [as estimated by] Elon Musk. Even when Mars will be closest in January of 2025, it happens every 26 months, it will still take seven months to get there."