Mars
Mars is a terrestrial planet located fourth from the Sun in the Inner Solar System. It has a diameter of 6,779 kilometers and a mass of 6.39 x 10^23 kilograms, making it roughly half the size of Earth. Mars is a rocky planet with a thin atmosphere primarily composed of carbon dioxide, with trace amounts of nitrogen and argon. The planet's surface is characterized by volcanoes, canyons, and impact craters, including Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the solar system. Mars has a day length that is similar to Earth's, with a rotation period of 24.6 hours, and it orbits the Sun once every 687 Earth days. The planet has two small, irregularly shaped moons, Phobos and Deimos. Mars has been the subject of extensive exploration by spacecraft, including NASA's Viking missions in the 1970s and more recent rovers such as Curiosity and Perseverance. The search for evidence of past or present life on Mars remains an important goal of space exploration.
Mars is currently in the constellation of Aquarius, at a distance of 301,980,895 kilometers from Earth.
View interactive star map
Today's rise, transit and set times of Mars from Greenwich, United Kingdom (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):
- Mars is below the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom .
- Given its current magnitude, Mars is visible to the naked eye, easy and bright under dark skies, might be more difficult from heavily light polluted areas.
- Go to interactive sky chart
If you need to access this information frequently for your observations, you can create a simple customized Quick Access page, so that you can easily bookmark it in your browser favorites or add a shortcut to your mobile phones' home screen.
Higher precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Mars is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.
Also check out Where is Mars?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Mars in the sky and additional links to sky charts.
Mars Distance from Earth
The distance of Mars from Earth is currently 301,980,895 kilometers, equivalent to 2.018618 Astronomical Units. Light takes 16 minutes and 47.2998 seconds to travel from Mars and arrive to us.
The following chart shows the distance of Mars from Earth as a function of time. In the chart the distance data is measured in Astronomical Units and sampled with an interval of 1 day.
The value of the reported distance might be somewhat inaccurate around the times of closest approach for objects passing extremely close to Earth. The value of the distance of Mars from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.
Closest Approach of Mars to Earth
Between 1 January 1600 and 30 December 2499, the closest approach of Mars to Earth happens on Mon Aug 29 2287 at a distance of 0.372254 Astronomical Units, or 55,688,458 kilometers:
NOTE: values for the closest approach are computed with a sampling interval of 1 day.
Mars Brightness and Light Curve
The following chart is the predicted light curve (visual magnitude as a function of time) of Mars, according to the most recent ephemerides data. Magnitude data is sampled with a 2 days interval and there might be inaccuracies for objects changing brightness very rapidly during the course of a few days. For comets there could be large discrepancies between the observed and predicted brightness because of their highly dynamic behaviour.
Mars Physical Data
The following shows the known values of the most important physical parameters of Mars. Source: JPL Small-Body Database
| Physical Parameter | Value | Relative to Earth |
|---|---|---|
| Diameter | 6779 km | 0.5320 |
| Mass | 0.641693 x 1024 kg | 0.1074 |
| Density | 3.934 gr/cm3 | 0.7135 |
| Escape Velocity | 5.03 km/s | 0.4495 |
| Sideral Rotation | 24.6230 hours | 1.0288 |
| Absolute Magnitude | -1.52 | |
| Geometric Albedo | 0.15 |
Mars 15 Days Ephemeris
The following table lists the ephemerides of Mars computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Click on each row of the table to locate Mars in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.
| Date | Right AscensionR.A. | DeclinationDec. | MagnitudeMag | Apparent DiameterDiameter | Constellation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 Apr 12 | 23h 07m 32s | -06° 58’ 22” | 1.05 | 4.6” | Aquarius |
| 2024 Apr 13 | 23h 10m 27s | -06° 40’ 23” | 1.05 | 4.6” | Aquarius |
| 2024 Apr 14 | 23h 13m 19s | -06° 22’ 23” | 1.06 | 4.6” | Aquarius |
| 2024 Apr 15 | 23h 16m 11s | -06° 04’ 18” | 1.07 | 4.6” | Aquarius |
| 2024 Apr 16 | 23h 19m 05s | -05° 46’ 11” | 1.09 | 4.6” | Aquarius |
| 2024 Apr 17 | 23h 21m 56s | -05° 28’ 01” | 1.09 | 4.6” | Aquarius |
| 2024 Apr 18 | 23h 24m 48s | -05° 09’ 51” | 1.11 | 4.6” | Aquarius |
| 2024 Apr 19 | 23h 27m 39s | -04° 51’ 37” | 1.12 | 4.6” | Aquarius |
| 2024 Apr 20 | 23h 30m 32s | -04° 33’ 20” | 1.13 | 4.6” | Aquarius |
| 2024 Apr 21 | 23h 33m 23s | -04° 15’ 02” | 1.13 | 4.6” | Aquarius |
| 2024 Apr 22 | 23h 36m 14s | -03° 56’ 44” | 1.15 | 4.6” | Aquarius |
| 2024 Apr 23 | 23h 39m 05s | -03° 38’ 22” | 1.16 | 4.7” | Aquarius |
| 2024 Apr 24 | 23h 41m 56s | -03° 20’ 00” | 1.16 | 4.7” | Aquarius |
| 2024 Apr 25 | 23h 44m 45s | -03° 01’ 37” | 1.16 | 4.7” | Pisces |