Planet Mars won\`t be as close again until 2035

Mars is at its biggest and brightest right now as the Red Planet lines up with Earth on the same side of the Sun. Every 26 months_ the pair take up this arrangement_ moving close together_ before then diverging again on their separate orbits around our star. Tuesday night sees the actual moment of what astronomers call "opposition". All three bodies will be in a straight line at 23:20 GMT (00:20 BST). "But you don't have to wait until the middle of the night; even now_ at nine or 10 o'clock in the evening_ you'll easily see it over in the southeast_" says astrophotographer_ Damian Peach. "You can't miss it_ it's the brightest star-like object in that part of the sky_" he told. Even though this coming week witnesses the moment of opposition_ it was Tuesday of last week that Mars and Earth actually made their closest approach in this 26-month cycle. A separation of 62_069_570km_ or 38_568_243 miles. That's the narrowest gap now until 2035. At the last opposition_ in 2018_ Earth and Mars were just 58 million km apart_ but what makes this occasion a little more special for astrophotographers in the Northern Hemisphere is the Red Planet's elevation in the sky. It's higher_ and that means telescopes don't have to look through quite so much of the Earth's turbulent atmosphere_ which distorts images. Three missions are currently in transit_ all of which were sent on their way in July: The United Arab Emirates' Hope orbiter; China's Tianwen orbiter and rover; and the Americans' Perseverance rover. Europe and Russia had hoped to despatch their ExoMars "Rosalind Franklin" rover_ too_ but they missed the launch window and will now have to wait until late 2022. That's the penalty you pay when the planets align only every 26 months. In 2003_ Mars made its closest approach to Earth around opposition in nearly 60_000 years - a separation of just 56 million km. The distance between the two at opposition can be over 100 million km_ as happened in 2012. The variation is a consequence of the elliptical shape of the orbits of both Mars and Earth. Mars made its closest approach to Earth on Oct. 6_ when the two planets were separated by just 38.6 million miles_ according to NASA. It will not pass this close to Earth again until 2035. -BBC