QUESTION:
Is Mars the closest planet to earth? Does it depend on the time of year?

ANSWER from Smart Filter on September 9, 1997:
Venus is the closet planet to Earth, with an average orbit from the sun of
approx .7 AU. A typical planetarium program will show the orbits of the
planets and show that Venus can come as close to earth as 0.267 AU and Mars
closest approach will be 0.373 AU on Aug 28th, 2003.