Throughout the past week, but especially on Wednesday night, people across the world went outside at night to look at Mars. Wednesday was important because, at 04:51 EST, Mars and Earth were just about as close as they can ever get: 35 million miles apart. Viewers with telescopes could see great detail, but even those using just eyes could clearly see a rusty light. What's this got to do with history? Well, if you stood and saw Mars, you did something which no one has been able to do for nearly 60,000 years; that's how long it’s been since the planets were last this close.