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 South El Monte, at the moment of aphelion it will become visible at around 20:16 (PDT), 60° above your western horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. It will then sink towards the horizon, setting at 01:19.
A chart of the path of Mars across the sky in 2040 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 | 08h10m40s | 21°57'N | Cancer | 1.2 | 5.9" |
The coordinates above are given in J2000.0.
The sky on 15 Aug 2025
| The sky on 15 August 2025 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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51% 22 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
| 09 Feb 2040 | – Mars ends retrograde motion |
| 27 Dec 2041 | – Mars enters retrograde motion |
| 04 Feb 2042 | – Mars at perigee |
| 06 Feb 2042 | – Mars at opposition |
Image credit
© NASA/Hubble Space Telescope