As the day draws near when Mars makes its closest encounter with Earth for 60,000 years, Japan’s astronomical observatories are launching “Mars Week” on Aug. 22 in an effort to get “more than 100 million people” across the country to go outside and see for themselves Earth’s planetary neighbor.
The Red Planet beloved of sci-fi writers and revered by the Romans, who gave its name to their god of war, is relentlessly approaching Earth, and will be at its closest Aug. 27. On that day, 55.76 million km of space will separate the two — their closest pass since around September 57,617 B.C., when their elliptical orbits brought the heavenly bodies within just 55.72 million km of each other.
To see the sky the way Neanderthal people did, keep watching the bright dot in the southeast at night.
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