Mars made its closest approach to Earth in a decade on Thursday providing sky-watchers with a celestial show. The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said the red planet already looms large in the nighttime skies, appearing as a bright, fire-yellow, star-like light.
This alignment however, only occurs about every 26 months as a result of Earth, the third planet from the sun, and Mars, the fourth, coming into close alignment.
NASA on Thursday (May 19) released a photograph of Mars taken by the Hubble Space Telescope as the planet neared Earth last week. The detailed image showed polar caps and clouds above Mars’ rust-hued landscape.