Tonight, if you can step outside late, you’ll see the Moon in close proximity to the red planet Mars. Both are in the constellation Taurus. The bright star Aldebaran, the brightest star in the constellation is not far away. The view starts around midnight, when the the three are high enough to see above the eastern horizon.

You can draw an imaginary line through all three of them with Mars almost being in the middle. Take note of the brightness of Mars. The planet is growing in brightness as it gets closer.

Mars is closer to us than the sun, at roughly 80 million miles away. The Sun is about 93 million miles away.

Mars will continue to brighten in the weeks ahead, at its brightest in the first week of December. Stay tuned, Mars will be only 38.6 million miles away on Dec. 8.