Mars' Close Passage to Earth
 Mars appears unusually bright throughout August 2003. It looks like a brilliant orange star in the constellation Aquarius. It outshines all the other planets and stars visible in the night sky. It rises a couple of hours after sunset early in the month, but around the time of sunset by the end of the month. Use our timeline and starcharts to plan your backyard outings.
Mars the Magnificent
The last time Earth and Mars passed this close to each other -- well, almost this close -- a Northeastern astronomer launched a nationwide effort to listen for Martian radio broadcasts. The time before that, Giovanni Schiaparelli saw a series of dark markings on the planet's surface that some interpreted as canals built by an ancient civilization. More »
Timeline
- August 12, 2003
- Mars lines up quite close to the Moon tonight. It appears just to the lower left of the Moon as they rise in early evening.
Starchart: August 11-14, 2003 »
- August 13, 2003
- Mars rises shortly before the Moon, and appears to the upper right of the Moon as both bodies climb into view in the southeast in early evening.
- August 27, 2003
- At 4:51 a.m. CDT, Earth and Mars will pass 34,646,437 miles (55,758,006 km) from each other -- their closest approach in about 60,000 years. (Many encounters have come within a few thousand miles of this distance, though. In 1924, for example, Mars passed only about 13,000 miles farther than this year.)
Starchart: late August 2003 »
- August 28, 2003
- Mars is at opposition. This means the planet lines up opposite the Sun in our sky.
- August 30, 2003
- Mars is closest to the Sun for the year, at a distance of less than 130 million miles. (The combination of the close approaches to Sun and Earth is why Mars appears unusually big and bright this summer.)
Other Resources
Solar System Guide: Mars
Special Mars Viewing Nights at McDonald Observatory
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