To coincide with the closest encounter between Mars and Earth in 60,000 years, the Hubble Space Telescope has captured a spectacular new image of the Red Planet. At 0932 GMT on Wednesday, Mars passed within 55,760,220 kilometres of the Earth - just 145 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon. The planets will not be so near again until 28 August, 2287. Such close passes are both rare and irregularly timed because of a complex interaction of the planets' orbits. Earth and Mars pass around the Sun on a similar plane of inclination but travel at different speeds.

Image: NASA)