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Mars to Get Closest to Earth on Tuesday, Moscow Planetarium Says

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Mars will be closest to Earth on Tuesday at around 11:30 p.m. in Moscow (20:30 GMT) and will be easily visible, Lyudmila Koshman, the Moscow Planetarium’s astronomer, said.
Sputnik

"Due to the fact that the orbits of the Earth and Mars have a certain inclination to each other and are not ideally circular, but slightly elongated and elliptical, Mars will be closest to Earth not when the two planets are at the opposite of each other, but a little earlier — on October 6, at around 11:30-11:40 p.m. Moscow time," Koshman said.

The astronomer added that Mars and Earth will be at an opposing point on October 14.

According to Koshman, the red planet will be approximately 41 million miles away from Earth on Tuesday. The astronomer also said that Mars will be easily visible at this distance.

The expert also mentioned that Mars is now "the brightest object in the sky," and can be seen after sunsets. According to the astronomer, the planet now is in the most visible position from the Russian territory since 1988.

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