A Mars-gazing "party" will be held from 7:00 pm (1600 GMT) at the ancient site of the Citadel at Jabal al-Qala overlooking Amman, where three large telescopes will be made available to the public, a spokesman for the society told AFP.

Jihad Lafi said this will be one of three events organised over the next two days, as Mars moves at its closest to earth in 60,000 years.

A 30-strong society delegation will camp Thursday night in the Azraq desert east of the capital to view Mars, while another monitoring event will be held at Aal al-Bayt University, which has a large 16-inch telescope, he said.

On August 27, Mars will be 55.76 million kilometres (34.65 million miles) from Earth, according to Belgian astronomer Jean Meeus.

SPACE.WIRE