the Red Planet cometh

This whole month, the Earth is catching up with Mars and will culminate in the closet encounter between the two plants in recorded history. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287.
Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars and affects its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the last 5,000 years and it may be as long as 60,000 years before it happens again.
When you look at the night sky this month, look out for a progressively bigger speck in the sky! The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles of Earth and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky. Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye.