Mars

1. Today, Earth and Mars are just a short 34,647,658 miles (55,760,000 kilometres) apart. The two planets have not been this close in 60,000 years. Celebratory events are taking place all over the world.

2. August 27 also happens to be the 83rd birthday of sci-fi author Ray Bradbury, who wrote the groundbreaking Martian Chronicles in 1953. Fans such as George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Nichelle Nichols have already wished him well; you can too if you like.

3. Mr Bradbury was himself influenced by the Martian tales of Edgar Rice Burroughs (more famous for writing Tarzan) and will no doubt be checking the red planet's rising and setting times in preparation for the big event.

4. With Mars being so close, astronomers can get a better view of its enormous "canals".

5) They aren't anything of the sort, of course - but it is thought these deep channels were formed by water.

6. Mars has always had a certain pop cultural mystique, ever since astronomer Percival Lowell argued in his 1895 book Mars that the "canals" on the Martian surface were built by intelligent beings.

7. Then in 1938 came Orson Welles's radio play The War of the Worlds, mistaken by a large swathe of the American public as news coverage of a genuine Martian invasion. Mars and its inhabitants have been a Hollywood staple ever since.

8. But now we've turned the tables, and Mars faces a human invasion as various space craft race towards our neighbour.

9. As well as Nasa's Rovers, a British craft, Beagle 2, is set to land on Mars in December.

10. That is something our Greek and Roman ancestors would have viewed as unwise.