One summer evening in 1766, Benjamin Franklin may have noticed that Mars appeared unusually large. In 1845, Edgar Allan Poe might have looked up from his newly-published poem, "The Raven," to remark how the blood-red orb had grown. As recently as 1924, F. Scott Fitzgerald could have paused at a Jazz Age party to watch the bright, ruddy dot making its way across the sky.

Artist's rendition of Earth approximately 60,000 years ago Browse Image (57 kB)

During each of these August nights, Mars and Earth were about 56 million km (less than 35 million miles) apart, among their closest approaches.

But not since the Neanderthals lived have Earth and Mars been quite as close as on August 27, 2003 at 9:51 Universal Time (the time in Greenwich, England) -- 55,758,006 km (34,646,418 miles) from center to center. That was the nearest the two planets have been in almost 60,000 years!

NASA and the European Space Agency have taken advantage of Mars' relative closeness to send spacecraft to the planet. Backyard astronomers are getting their best opportunity -- weather on Earth and Mars permitting -- for a good look at our celestial neighbor.

That was the closest that the two planets will be until August 28, 2287! What will Earth be like when people marvel at the red planet nearly three centuries from now? And will there be people living on Mars by then, when an unusually close and large-looking Earth rises with the morning sun?

Kids! Imagine What Earth and Mars will be like next time they are so close together...in 2287! Download a coloring sheet here.

Print a PDF landscape or GIF to show how you think Earth and Mars might look the next time they're so close.