Although is been pretty close this week and will be close within this upcoming week, the planet Mars will be its closest today. Today, Mars will be 47.2 million miles away from the Earth. If you have a telescope you should be able to get a good look at it. Though you won’t have to wait 11 years for Mars to get close to the Earth again. The next time Mars will be this close to Earth will be July 31, 2018.