Mars was in opposition to Earth
Mars: Planet Comes Into Opposition, Will Be Closest to Earth for 1st Time Since 2005 Mars reached opposition, at which point it was on the direct opposite side of Earth as the sun, at 7:10 a.m. EDT Sunday. On May 30, Mars will be the closest it has been to Earth since 2005. Which is in India at afternoon that is 04:40 PM. The Hubble Space Telescope is well known for its picturesque views of nebulae and galaxies, but it’s also useful for studying our own planets, including Mars. On May 12, 2016, astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured this striking image of Mars , when the planet was 50 million miles (80.5 million km) from Earth. About every 26 months, Mars and the sun are on opposite sides of Earth, we refer to this orientation as an opposition. Earth’s orbit around the sun is very nearly circular. Bu t Mars has a much more eccentric orbit, which brings the red planet some 43 million kilometers (26 million miles) farther from the sun