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Look up! It's Mars!

Posted at 7:50 PM, May 30, 2016
and last updated 2016-05-30 22:54:17-04

Monday night should be a great night to get a closer look at the planet Mars.

Earth and Mars will be at their closest in more than a decade.

Mars is usually about 140 million miles from Earth on average. And when the two planets are on opposite sides of the sun, they can be as much as 250 million miles apart.

The two planets only pass each other about once every 26 months because it takes Mars 687 days to make its trip around the sun and Earth makes two trips around in the same time period.

The Red Planet is currently about 47 million miles away, which means it will be visible to the naked eye.

However, it won't be as close as it was in 2003. That year, Earth and Mars were only separated by 35 million miles, the closest the two planets have been in more than 60,000 years.

The planet will remain big and bright all week and then begin to fade in mid-June.