Mars
Spacecraft Missions to Mars

Oppositions of Mars - 1960 to 2020

Earth orbits the Sun in 365 days while Mars takes 687 days. As a result, Earth passes Mars every 26 months. At the time of passing, the Sun, Earth and Mars are in line - Mars and Earth are then said to be in opposition. The period around oppositions is best for observation of Mars, because of its closeness to Earth and its larger angular diameter. Because Mars has an eccentric orbit, the distance from Earth to Mars varies considerably from opposition to opposition.

DateAngular
Diameter
of Mars		Distance
millions
of km
30 Dec 196015.5" 91
4 Feb 196314.0"100
9 Mar 196514.0"100
15 Apr 196715.5" 91
31 May 196919.4" 73
10 Aug 197124.8" 56
25 Oct 197321.2" 66
15 Dec 197516.2" 85
21 Jan 197814.4" 98
25 Feb 198013.8"102
31 Mar 198214.8" 96
11 May 198417.3" 81
10 Jul 198623.0" 61
28 Sep 198823.8" 59
27 Nov 199018.0" 78
7 Jan 199314.8" 94
12 Feb 199513.8"101
17 Mar 199714.0" 99
24 Apr 199916.2" 87
13 Jun 200120.5" 68
28 Aug 200325.1" 56
7 Nov 200519.8" 70
28 Dec 200715.9" 88
29 Jan 201014.1" 99
3 Mar 201213.9"101
8 Apr 201415.2" 92
22 May 201618.6" 75
27 Jul 201824.3" 58
13 Oct 202023.0" 62

Data Source: SEDS Mars Oppositions