strange cousin susan

2003 - Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years, passing approximately 34,646,416 miles (55,758,006 kilometers) from Earth.

From wikipedia:

To the naked-eye, Mars usually appears a distinct yellow, orange, or reddish color, and varies in brightness more than any other planet as seen from Earth over the course of its orbit. The apparent magnitude of Mars varies from +1.8 at conjunction to as high as −2.9 at perihelic opposition.^[4] When farthest away from the Earth, it is more than seven times as far from the latter as when it is closest. When least favourably positioned, it can be lost in the Sun’s glare for months at a time. At its most favourable times — which occur twice every 32 years, alternately at 15 and 17-year intervals, and always between late July and late September — Mars shows a wealth of surface detail to a telescope. Especially noticeable, even at low magnification, are the polar ice caps.

The point of Mars’ closest approach to the Earth is known as opposition. The length of time between successive oppositions, or the synodic period, is 780 days. Because of the eccentricities of the orbits, the times of opposition and minimum distance can differ by up to 8.5 days. The minimum distance varies between about 55 and 100 million km due to the planets’ elliptical orbits.^[4] The next Mars opposition will occur on January 29, 2010.

As Mars approaches opposition it begins a period of retrograde motion, which means it will appear to move backwards in a looping motion with respect to the background stars.

On August 27, 2003, at 9:51:13 UT, Mars made its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years: 55,758,006 km (0.372719 AU). This occurred when Mars was one day from opposition and about three days from its perihelion, making Mars particularly easy to see from Earth. The last time it came so close is estimated to have been on September 12, 57,617 BC, the next time being in 2287. However, this record approach was only very slightly closer than other recent close approaches. For instance, the minimum distance on August 22, 1924 was 0.372846 AU, and the minimum distance on August 24, 2208 will be 0.372253 AU. The orbital changes of Earth and Mars are making the approaches nearer: the 2003 record will be bettered 22 times by the year 4000.