* Astronomy

From Oct. 23 through Nov. 5, Mars' apparent size will be larger than 20 arc seconds; larger than it will appear at any time until late June of 2018. However, not as large as the August 2003 appearance, when the planet came closer to Earth than it had in nearly 60,000-years.

Mars comes closest to the Earth on the night of Oct. 30 (around 03:25 GMT). The planet will lie 69,422,386 kilometres from Earth measured centre to centre. Mars will be at opposition to the Sun (rising at sunset, setting at sunrise), on Nov. 7.
Mars is currently in the constellation of Aries, rising around 10:45 p.m. local time. The planet is now shining at magnitude –0.8, making it the fifth among the brightest objects in the night sky, apart from the Sun, Moon, Venus, Jupiter and Sirius.

Mars will continue to approach Earth, and get brighter over the coming weeks: it will surpass Sirius on Sept. 21 2005 and from Oct. 4 until Nov. 26, it will be as bright as Jupiter and be the second-brightest planet.

On Oct. 29, Mars' apparent disk diameter will be equal to 20.2 arc seconds.
(Jupiter currently appears about 32 arc seconds across.)

Late on the night of Aug. 24, Mars will be positioned near to a waning gibbous Moon.