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Solar
Planet

Mars

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Where is it now

Distance from Sun
1.56 AU
True anomaly
109.78°
Distance from Earth
1.641 AU
As of
2 October 2026

Two-body Kepler propagation — accurate to ~0.1% for major planets over decades, less so for highly-perturbed bodies. Use JPL Horizons for high precision.

Sun Earth — 1.001 AU from the Sun Earth Mars — 1.56 AU from the Sun Mars
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Mars is 1.641 AU from Earth today (13.6 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
08h 20m 16s
Declination
+20° 37′ 04″
Constellation
Cancer
Distance from Earth
1.64 AU
Elongation from the Sun
67.67° — well clear of the Sun

Favours the northern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far south.

From your location

See how high it is right now, whether it's up after dark, and when it rises and sets where you are.

How do I find my coordinates?

Google Maps on a computer

  1. Right-click the spot where you'll be observing.
  2. The first line of the menu is the coordinates, e.g. 51.50722, -0.12758 — click it and they're copied.
  3. Paste them above.

Google Maps on a phone

  1. Press and hold the spot to drop a pin.
  2. The coordinates appear in the search bar (or on the pin's card) — tap to copy, then paste above.

A full Google Maps link works too, but the short maps.app.goo.gl share links don't carry coordinates — copy the numbers instead. We round to about a kilometre; that's all the sky calculation needs.

Know your what3words address? Paste it, e.g. ///filled.count.soap. This is optional — the three words are sent to what3words to convert them, and we don't store the address or the result.

Your location stays in your browser and is sent only for this calculation. Using a what3words address is optional; if you do, the three words go to what3words to be converted and we don't record them. Set a location first, then you can save an email alert for this object. See our privacy policy.

Two-body approximation, good to about a degree for the planets — enough to find the constellation and know whether it is up.

Orbital elements

Semi-major axis
1.524 AU
Eccentricity
0.0934
Inclination
1.85°
Orbital period
687 days
Perihelion
1.381 AU
Aphelion
1.666 AU
Longitude of ascending node
49.56°
Argument of periapsis
286.5°
Epoch · J2000
J2000

Physical properties

Mean radius
3,390 km
Equatorial radius
3,396 km
Polar radius
3,376 km
Mass
6.417 × 10²³ kg
Density
3.934 g/cm³
Rotation period
24.62 hours
Axial tilt
25.19°
Surface gravity
3.73 m/s²
Escape velocity
5.03 km/s
GM
42,828 km³/s²
Ellipticity
0.00589
J₂ · × 10⁻⁶
1,960.45
Moment of inertia · I/MR²
0.366
Length of day
24.66 hours
Synodic period
779.9 days
Mean orbital speed
24.08 km/s
Black-body temperature
209.8 K
Solar irradiance
586.2 W/m²

Visual & observation

Geometric albedo
0.17
Bond albedo
0.25
V(1,0) magnitude
-1.6
Representative colour
#C1440E

Atmosphere

Surface pressure · 6.36 mb at
0.00636 bar
Temperature · ~214 K (-59 C)
214 K
Density
0.016 kg/m³
Scale height
11.0 km
Mean molecular weight
43.49
Winds
2-7 m/s (summer), 5-10 m/s (fall), 17-30 m/s (dust storm) (Viking Lander sites)

Composition by volume

  • Carbon Dioxide (CO2) 95.1 %
  • Nitrogen (N2) 2.59 %
  • Argon (Ar) 1.94 %
  • Oxygen (O2) 0.16 %
  • Carbon Monoxide (CO) 0.06 %
  • Water (H2O) 210 ppm
  • Nitrogen Oxide (NO) 100 ppm
  • Neon (Ne) 3 ppm

Source: NASA Planetary Fact Sheet.

2 moons

Phobos 11 km 1.066 × 10¹⁶ kg 1.88 g/cm³ 0.0001 AU 7.7 hours
Deimos 6.20 km 1.476 × 10¹⁵ kg 1.47 g/cm³ 0.0002 AU 30.3 hours

Sources