MARS is looking at its best right now

Mars, the most Earthlike planet of all the planets, has been absent from our evening sky for well over a year. Now it's coming back and here's why:

Earth and Mars are in an eternal dance with the two parties sometimes close, sometimes very far apart. Both worlds orbit the sun, with Earth doing so more quickly on the inner path. Every 2.1 years, Earth laps Mars, like a race car on the inside track. At that moment, the sun, Earth and Mars are all lined up. Astronomers call it opposition.

During much of January we've been speeding toward Mars in our orbit by an average of 3 miles per second; so Mars has been gradually getting brighter and larger in apparent size.

Mars will pass closest to the Earth at 2:01 p.m. EST during the American afternoon of Jan. 27, just two days before its Jan. 29 opposition, when it will appear to rise at sunset and set at sunrise and will be visible all night.

As a bonus, on opposition night, the Moon, just hours before officially turning full, will sit well off to the right of Mars as they climb the early evening eastern sky.