planet
Mars
Red from iron oxide dust that covers nearly everything. Olympus Mons rises 22 km above the plain, and Valles Marineris would run the length of the continental United States.
Position
Computed on . For a continuously updating figure, open the live simulation.
When to look
Mars is best placed at opposition, when Earth passes between it and the Sun. It then rises at sunset, stands highest at midnight, and is at its closest and brightest.
| Date (UTC) | Event | Distance from Earth |
|---|---|---|
| opposition | 0.68 AU | |
| opposition | 0.65 AU | |
| opposition | 0.56 AU | |
| opposition | 0.43 AU |
Mars varies more than any other planet: some approaches leave 56 million kilometres between the two worlds and others 101 million. Every close approach, and the launch windows that go with them.
About Mars
Mars has the most eccentric orbit of the terrestrial planets, which is why its oppositions vary so much: a favourable one brings it within 0.37 AU, an unfavourable one leaves it beyond 0.67 AU, and the apparent disc more than doubles between the two. Its day is almost exactly Earth’s, at 24 hours 37 minutes, and its axial tilt is close enough to ours that it has recognisable seasons.
Physical data
- Diameter
- 6,792 km
- Mass
- 0.107 earths
- Surface gravity
- 3.72 m/s2
- Rotation
- 24h 37m
- Year
- 687.0 d
- Axial tilt
- 25.2 deg
- Mean temperature
- -63 C
- Moons
- 2
Positions from VSOP87, accurate to within one arcminute. Physical constants are published values and are not computed here.