Mars will be closest to Earth and at its brightest this October. The Red Planet will not appear this bright again till the next 15 years. Subject to weather conditions, NASA says that this phenomenon can be viewed midnight onwards in the month of October. According to the space agency, this time Mars' orbit will come closest to Earth and lay at around 62.07 million kilometers or 38.6 million miles from the Earth.
According to the National Aeronautical Space Agency, "Mars will still be visible through October, but will become fainter as Mars and Earth travel farther away from each other in their orbits around the Sun." By the end of November, Mars will be only a quarter as bright.
In its skywatching guide, NASA said that October is a good time to view Mars since the Red Planet is visible throughout the night and reaches its highest point in the sky at around midnight. The period of excellent visibility coincidentally occurs with an event called opposition, which occurs every two years. In the opposition event, Mars is directly on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun.
How to look at Red Planet
Skywatchers can view Mars from Earth via a pair of binoculars as well as a cell phone with a quality camera. You can also view this phenomenon with a naked eye whereas for people who are interested in astronomy and want to spot more details, they can use a telescope.
The last time when Mars and Earth were in closest proximity was on August 27,2003 at 09:51 GMT. Mars came closer to Earth at 55,758,006 kilometres or 34,646,418 miles from centre to centre. This was the closest both the planets came in the last 60,000 years.