Home
Search Objects
Major Solar System Objects
Comets
Asteroids
Spacecrafts
Star Maps
Orbits
public  Greenwich, UK Greenwich, UK  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/London
Sunrise: 5:12 
Transit: 12:56 
Sunset: 20:41
warning Set your observing location to get relevant data
Search  close
Major Bodies » 

Mars

Below the horizon.  Rise: 10:50 | Tran: 18:31 | Set: 2:14
Alt: -18.08°   Az: 15.99°   Direction: North-North-East

Mars is in the constellation of Cancer, at a distance of 229,408,441.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 08h 57m 39s and the Declination is +19° 02’ 29” (apparent coordinates). The magnitude of Mars is 1.10 (data provided by JPL Horizons). Check out tonight's visibility information for Mars.

Finder Charts

Map showing Mars in Cancer on May, 13 2025. Field of view: 50x30 degrees
View interactive star map
Sky map showing Mars in Cancer on May, 13 2025. Field of view: 15x9 degrees. View in interactive sky chart

High 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.

Mars
RA: 08h 56m 12s
Dec: +19° 08’ 23”
Deep sky finder chart for Mars. Field of view: 60x40 arcmins. View in deep sky object tracker

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.

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

08h 57m 39s
+19° 02’ 29”
13h 04m 20s
22h 01m 59s

J2000

08h 56m 12s
+19° 08’ 23”

Additional Information

Cancer
1.10

Rise and Set Times

Today's rise, transit and set times of Mars from Greenwich, UK (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 71.0°
Max altitude: 57.5°
Azimuth: 289.1°
  • Mars is below the horizon from Greenwich, UK.
  • 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.

Distance from Earth

The distance of Mars from Earth is currently 229,408,441.0 kilometers, equivalent to 1.5335007104 Astronomical Units. Light takes 12m 45.224s to travel from Mars and arrive to us.

229,408,441.0
1.5335007104
12m 45.224s

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.

Chart of the distance of Mars from Earth in Astronomical Units (au)

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

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:

Mon Aug 29 2287
55,688,458
0.372254

NOTE: values for the closest approach are computed with a sampling interval of 1 day.

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.

Chart of the magnitude of Mars as a function of time

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

15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Mars computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Apparent celestial coordinates are provided.

Date Right AscensionR.A. DeclinationDec. MagnitudeMag Apparent DiameterDiameter Constellation
2025 May 06 08h 43m 26s +20° 07’ 01” 1.03 6.4” Cancer
2025 May 07 08h 45m 21s +19° 58’ 28” 1.04 6.3” Cancer
2025 May 08 08h 47m 18s +19° 49’ 50” 1.04 6.3” Cancer
2025 May 09 08h 49m 15s +19° 41’ 05” 1.05 6.3” Cancer
2025 May 10 08h 51m 11s +19° 32’ 13” 1.06 6.2” Cancer
2025 May 11 08h 53m 09s +19° 23’ 16” 1.09 6.2” Cancer
2025 May 12 08h 55m 07s +19° 14’ 12” 1.11 6.1” Cancer
2025 May 13 08h 57m 06s +19° 05’ 01” 1.10 6.1” Cancer
2025 May 14 08h 59m 05s +18° 55’ 44” 1.11 6.1” Cancer
2025 May 15 09h 01m 04s +18° 46’ 21” 1.13 6.0” Cancer
2025 May 16 09h 03m 04s +18° 36’ 52” 1.15 6.0” Cancer
2025 May 17 09h 05m 03s +18° 27’ 16” 1.14 6.0” Cancer
2025 May 18 09h 07m 04s +18° 17’ 35” 1.14 5.9” Cancer
2025 May 19 09h 09m 05s +18° 07’ 47” 1.15 5.9” Cancer

Additional Resources on TheSkyLive