Mars's 687-day orbit around the Sun will carry it to its furthest point to the Sun – its aphelion – at a distance of 1.67 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 Cambridge, at the moment of aphelion it will become visible at around 21:08 (EST), 30° above your western horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. It will then sink towards the horizon, setting 3 hours and 55 minutes after the Sun at 00:07.
A chart of the path of Mars across the sky in 2023 can be found here, and a chart of its rising and setting times here.
The position of Mars at the moment it passes aphelion will be:
| Object | Right Ascension | Declination | Constellation | Magnitude | Angular Size |
| Mars | 08h33m00s | 20°19'N | Cancer | 1.6 | 4.7" |
The coordinates above are given in J2000.0.
The sky on 30 May 2023
| The sky on 30 May 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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83% 11 days old |
All times shown in EDT.
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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
| 12 Jan 2023 | – Mars ends retrograde motion |
| 06 Dec 2024 | – Mars enters retrograde motion |
| 12 Jan 2025 | – Mars at perigee |
| 15 Jan 2025 | – Mars at opposition |
Image credit
© NASA/Hubble Space Telescope