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Earth, Mars Will Have Close Encounter Of The Rare Kind This Week

Attention, skywatchers: Mars is now at its nearest to Earth in 11 years.

Mars and Earth will be getting cozy for the next few weeks. The Red Planet will be about 48 million miles away, the closest in 11 years. Mars is usually an average 140 miles away and, at its farthest, it's 250 million miles distant.

Mars and Earth will be getting cozy for the next few weeks. The Red Planet will be about 48 million miles away, the closest in 11 years. Mars is usually an average 140 miles away and, at its farthest, it's 250 million miles distant.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia/Hubble Scope

According to universetoday.com, the Red Planet will be between 47 and 48 million miles away from now until June 12.

So break out those telescopes and binoculars, the next time Mars will be this close is July 31, 2018, universetoday.com said.

Named after the Roman god of war, Mars is the fourth planet from the sun.

It's usually about 140 million miles from Earth, and, at its farthest, it is about 250 million miles away -- and on the opposite side of the Sun.

To find out the best time for viewing Mars, visit www.timeanddate.com/astronomy, and put in your exact location.

The website will give you a list of times that Mars rises and sets.

Universetoday.com said that folks without telescopes need not worry about catching a peek.

There will be many astro-photos of Mars hitting the Internet as well as places to go for live streaming feeds from scientific telescopes, universetoday.com reported.

Also check out the website, www.skyandtelescope.com, for online tools to help you enjoy the show.

A live stream of the event can also be seen on www.live.slooh.com, the website of the Slooh Community Observatory, an online astronomy platform with telescopes rentals (for a fee).

Slooh manages a global network of telescopes located in places such as Chile and Spain.

And if you’re doing it on your own, just look for the brightest, slightly reddish, “star” in the southeastern sky.

To read the universitytoday.com story, click here.

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