Well if you really want to get nitpicky about it, the original estimate was 73,000 years, but apparently, according to NASA, the calculations have been updated as of May to 60,000 years. Initial calculations were out thirteen thousand years, but I somehow doubt the astronomers were sniping at each other with sarcastic comments.....gimme a break.


from this site:

"At 5:51 a.m. EDT on Aug. 27, 2003, Mars will be within 34,646,418 miles (55,758,006 kilometers) of Earth. This will be the closest that Mars has come to our planet in nearly 60,000 years.

[Editor's Note: The initial computations that brought this event to light were made by Jean Meeus of Belgium. The above distances, only very slightly refined, were supplied to SPACE.com on Dec. 13, 2002 by orbit expert Myles Standish at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The "nearly 60,000 years" estimate was originally 73,000 years and was updated on May 1, 2003 as new calculations were supplied."

I'm looking forward to doing a lot of stargazing in the Rockies shortly, with no light pollution other than an occasional flashlight.