You might think that since mars are the third closest planet to the sun after earth, it must be the closest planet to earth. There are many mysteries surrounding Mars, but this is one of the most common questions that people have. The truth is that there is more to the question than what meets the eye.
The answer is both yes and no. At its closest point to the sun, it is indeed closer than Earth—but when we talk about the planet closest to earth, we are talking about the average time it spends while staying the closest to earth, and that place belongs to Mercury.
To properly answer your question, we first need to understand what being the “closest” planet entails. Hence in this article, we will explore what it means to be the closest planet to the earth and if it is mars or another planet. We will also talk about the closest mars has been to earth.
What Does It Mean To Be Close To Earth?
The term “closest planet” to earth is used in reference to the planets’ distances from Earth and their relative orbit sizes around our star. Mars is the closest planet to Earth when it is at its closest point, called perihelion, on its elliptical orbit around the sun. At that point, the sun is around 55 million kilometers (34 million miles) distant from us.
However, we have to realize that the solar system is not at straight-cut as we think it is. How close or how far one planet is from another or from the sun all depends on the planet’s unique features and quirks and its orbital position all around its respective year.
Just like how, due to its elliptical form, when Mars is not at its nearest point to Earth, but rather much farther in space than normal, it will be much farther away from us than Venus or Mercury!
Here’s an intriguing video that delves a little deeper into the secrets of Mars:
Is Mars Actually The Closest Planet To Earth?
This leaves us wondering that if we look at the time spent closest to earth on average, rather than its closest approach to Earth, will mars be the planet with the closest distance to Earth?
This might not be true. The truth is that mars has long gone left this debate – as it mainly revolves around whether it is Venus or Mercury that is the closest to Earth. Here is why.
Most educational space sites, such as Space Dictionary and even NASA literature, have devised that Venus might be the closest planet to Earth. However, they are only looking at it from the perspective of how Venus has the closest approach to Earth. While that is true, it is also a fact that Venus spends quite a lot of time much, much far away from the Earth. Since the two planets have different speeds, they can end up the farthest from each other, as far as all the way to the opposite of the sun from each other. Hence, this becomes a flaw in this argument.
Then here comes Mercury -which in recent studies, has taken the honor of being the closest planet to Earth on average. Recent studies by a few scientists have discovered that Earth’s closest neighbor is actually Mercury. Not only that, but they found that mercury is not only the closest to Earth but also quite close to all other planets in the system. Hard to believe, right?
The scientists used a mathematical method to determine the average closest planet. It becomes more believable if you think about how they are actually calculating the distance, including the average distances from the earth, rather than the orbital distance from each other. Since mercury travels closer to the sun than other planets, it becomes the closest planet to the others, including earth.
How Close Can Mars Get To The Earth?
Both Earth and Mars have elliptical-shaped orbits. Hence their distance from each other varies a lot. If that wasn’t the case and it was a circular orbit, they might have the same distance all around the time they orbit the sun.
Hence, this creates the concept of a close approach; it is when at one point both these planets are the closest to each other. Although the distance of that close approach too, varies. So it means that not all these close approaches will be the same.
Mars approaches has its close approach with us every 26 months; you can even go skywatching to witness this beautiful and mysterious entity in space. However, Mars came to its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years in 2003. At that time the minimum distance between the two was 33.9 million miles (54.6 million kilometers). You might have found out a bit late, as it won’t be this close again until 2287.
During its close approach, Mars becomes visible from the naked eye, or for better skywatching you can make use of a telescope as well. Sometimes, it is not that visible, but approximately almost every 15 to 17 years, it can have an exceptional view for us in the sky.
It is important that you know that it won’t be as big as the moon – that statement is just a myth and deception. If that was possible – we might have been in trouble.
Final Takeaway
From the discussion in this article, we realize that not all of the science is straight facts sent from above. Every question and detail varies, as we humans continue to discover and define things on our terms. Similarly, when we talk about the closest planet to the Earth, it can depend on whether we are talking about the distance spent between it and Earth on average during its orbit around the sun or its closest approach to the Earth.
