Mars
Mars is in the constellation of
Gemini,
at a distance of
View interactive star map
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.
Celestial Coordinates
Apparent
J2000
Additional Information
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: 67.1°
Max altitude: 61.4°
Azimuth: 292.9°
- Mars is
above the horizon from Greenwich, UK.
- Right now it is placed in the East direction at an altitude of 29.80° above the horizon.
- Given its current magnitude, Mars is visible to the naked eye, even from highly 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.
Finder Charts
Sky map showing Mars in Gemini on October, 07 2024.
Field of view: 10x6 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.
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.
Distance from Earth
- Mars is above the horizon from Greenwich, UK.
- Right now it is placed in the East direction at an altitude of 29.80° above the horizon.
- Given its current magnitude, Mars is visible to the naked eye, even from highly light polluted areas.
- Go to interactive sky chart
Finder Charts
The distance of Mars from Earth is currently
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
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.
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.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 Sep 30 | 07h 02m 26s | +23° 10’ 01” | 0.48 | 7.5” | Gemini |
| 2024 Oct 01 | 07h 04m 44s | +23° 07’ 59” | 0.47 | 7.5” | Gemini |
| 2024 Oct 02 | 07h 06m 59s | +23° 05’ 53” | 0.44 | 7.6” | Gemini |
| 2024 Oct 03 | 07h 09m 14s | +23° 03’ 41” | 0.42 | 7.6” | Gemini |
| 2024 Oct 04 | 07h 11m 28s | +23° 01’ 25” | 0.40 | 7.7” | Gemini |
| 2024 Oct 05 | 07h 13m 41s | +22° 59’ 06” | 0.36 | 7.7” | Gemini |
| 2024 Oct 06 | 07h 15m 53s | +22° 56’ 41” | 0.36 | 7.8” | Gemini |
| 2024 Oct 07 | 07h 18m 04s | +22° 54’ 14” | 0.34 | 7.8” | Gemini |
| 2024 Oct 08 | 07h 20m 13s | +22° 51’ 42” | 0.33 | 7.8” | Gemini |
| 2024 Oct 09 | 07h 22m 21s | +22° 49’ 08” | 0.31 | 7.9” | Gemini |
| 2024 Oct 10 | 07h 24m 29s | +22° 46’ 30” | 0.30 | 7.9” | Gemini |
| 2024 Oct 11 | 07h 26m 34s | +22° 43’ 50” | 0.29 | 8.0” | Gemini |
| 2024 Oct 12 | 07h 28m 39s | +22° 41’ 07” | 0.27 | 8.0” | Gemini |
| 2024 Oct 13 | 07h 30m 42s | +22° 38’ 23” | 0.25 | 8.1” | Gemini |
Additional Resources
- Mars Perseverance Rover photostream, an organized and constantly updated image browser of all the images received from the Perseverance mission
- Position and finder charts (see also Where is Mars?)
- Distance from Earth (see also How far is Mars from Earth?)
- When does Mars rise and set?
- Brightness (see also How bright is Mars?)
- Physical data. Detailed information about physical properties of Mars, such as mass and geometric properties.
- 15 days ephemerides. Table showing celestial coordinates and magnitude of Mars for the past and next 7 days.
- Interactive sky chart. An online planetarium application that shows where to locate Mars in the sky from your location.
- Live position tracker. A high precision sky chart that uses real deep sky imagery to help locate Mars with your telescope or on your astrophotographies.