Mars opposition: Red Planet comes closer to Earth than it has been in years, making it easily visible with the naked eye

Mars and the Earth are nestling closer than they have for 15 years. The phenomenon – known as a Mars approach – should allow people to see the Red Planet with the naked eye. For Nasa, it is also a perfect opportunity to take advantage of the relatively short distance and send off missions to explore Mars. That is why Mars missions tend to launch roughly every two years – since that is how often the close approaches happen. From the International Space Station, Expedition 42 Flight Engineer Terry W. Virts took this photograph of the Gulf of Mexico and U.S. Gulf Coast at sunset This image of an area on the surface of Mars, approximately 1.5 by 3 kilometers in size, shows frosted gullies on a south-facing slope within a crater.