Mars will make its closest approach to earth in 15 years on Tuesday, giving stargazers a great opportunity to see the Red Planet. At just 35.8 million miles from Earth as it makes its way around the sun, Mars will appear bigger and brighter than usual, NASA reports. Every 26 months or so, Mars swings by Earth at varying distances as both planets make elliptical orbits around the sun. NASA notes
that many missions to Mars coincide with these close approaches. It should be relatively easy to spot Mars, as long as cloud cover is minimal. It will be visible much of the night, so just look for a bright star with a reddish hue. Only Venus will appear brighter. In the U.S., Mars reaches its highest point around midnight about 35 degrees above the southern horizon or one-third of the distance between the horizon and overhead, NASA notes. READ MORE
