A cool video has emerged of Mars being at its closest to Earth in 11 years.

The footage, shot on Monday night in Donegal, Ireland, shows the red planet glowing in the sky.

"Close approach is when Mars and Earth come nearest to each other in their orbits around the sun," the filmer later wrote online.

"Close is a relative term."

"The minimum distance from the Earth to Mars is about 54.6 million kilometres," he continued.

Close approach is when Mars and Earth come nearest to each other in their orbits around the sun. Close is a relative term. The minimum distance from the Earth to Mars is about 54.6 million kilometers. However, that doesn’t happen very often.

If Earth and Mars had perfectly circular orbits, their minimum distance would always be the same. However, they have elliptical (egg-shaped) paths.

In addition, gravitational tugging by planets constantly changes the shape of their orbits a little bit. Giant Jupiter especially influences the orbit of Mars.

The orbits of Mars and Earth are also slightly tilted with respect to each other.
mars
All of these factors mean that not all close encounters are equal. In 2003, Mars made its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years! It won’t be that close again until the year 2287.



When Mars and Earth are close to each other, Mars appears very bright in our sky. It also makes it easier to see with telescopes or the naked eye. The Red Planet comes close enough for exceptional viewing only once or twice every 15 or 17 years.

However, don’t be fooled by the Mars Hoax! Since 2003, this urban legend gets circulated through email and social media every time Mars makes a close approach.

the video shows mars before and after midnight moving across the sky along with a close up shot of mars moving across the sky.

Shot in Donegal Ireland.

Cameras used Canon 1200d, Panasonic Lumix DMC - FZ72