Mars, as seen through the Hubble Telescope

Astronomers from all over the world have converged on Canberra as the red planet moves away from the sun and towards earth, aligning directly over Canberra at 9:30pm.

“This is a very rare event,” said local astronomer William Heinemann in an interview earlier today.

“Not only will Mars be at its closest, but it will also be directly above Canberra, which only occurs every 142 years. So really this is a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

Mr Heinemann also suggested For those wanting to view Mars with the naked eye, “they should look directly up, and then a little to the left.”

Mars is approximately half the diameter of the Earth, yet has twice as many moons.