Mars's 687-day orbit around the Sun will carry it to its closest point to the Sun – its perihelion – at a distance of 1.38 AU.
Unlike most of the planets, which follow almost exactly circular orbits around the Sun which only vary in their distance from the Sun by a few percent, Mars has a significantly elliptical orbit. Its distance from the Sun varies between 1.38 AU and 1.67 AU – a variation of over 20% – meaning that it receives 31% less heat and light from the Sun at aphelion as compared to perihelion.
Finding Mars
Mars's distance from the Sun doesn't affect its appearance. From South El Monte, at the moment of perihelion it will become visible at around 17:28 (PDT), 23° above your south-western horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. It will then sink towards the horizon, setting 2 hours and 59 minutes after the Sun at 19:47.
A chart of the path of Mars across the sky in 1982 can be found here, and a chart of its rising and setting times here.
The position of Mars at the moment it passes perihelion will be:
| Object | Right Ascension | Declination | Constellation | Magnitude | Angular Size |
| Mars | 20h47m30s | 19°09'S | Capricornus | 1.1 | 4.7" |
The coordinates above are given in J2000.0.
The sky on 11 Sep 2025
| The sky on 11 September 2025 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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70% 19 days old |
All times shown in PDT.
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Source
The circumstances of this event were computed using the DE430 planetary ephemeris published by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
This event was automatically generated by searching the ephemeris for planetary alignments which are of interest to amateur astronomers, and the text above was generated based on an estimate of your location.
Related news
| 11 May 1982 | – Mars ends retrograde motion |
| 05 Apr 1984 | – Mars enters retrograde motion |
| 11 May 1984 | – Mars at opposition |
| 19 May 1984 | – Mars at perigee |
Image credit
© NASA/Hubble Space Telescope