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Mars comes closer to Earth more than any other planet save Venus at its nearest—56 million km is the closest distance between Mars and Earth, whereas the closest Venus comes to Earth is 40 million km. Mars comes closest to Earth every other year, around the time of its opposition, when Earth is sweeping between the Sun and Mars. Extra-close ...
Earth and Moon transiting the Sun in 2084, as seen from Mars. Image created using SpaceEngine Earth and Moon from Mars, as photographed by the Mars Global Surveyor. A transit of Earth across the Sun as seen from Mars takes place when the planet Earth passes directly between the Sun and Mars, obscuring a small part of the Sun's disc for an observer on Mars.
The green lines represent the Sun-Earth-Probe angle upon departure. [ clarification needed ] In orbital mechanics , a porkchop plot (also pork-chop plot ) is a chart that shows level curves of equal characteristic energy (C 3 ) against combinations of launch date and arrival date for a particular interplanetary flight. [ 1 ]
On 21 December 2012, the Cassini–Huygens probe, in orbit around Saturn, observed the planet Venus transiting the Sun. [3] On 3 June 2014, the Mars rover Curiosity observed the planet Mercury transiting the Sun, marking the first time a planetary transit has been observed from a celestial body besides Earth. [4]
At that time, Mars is 40% closer to the Sun. The orbit of Mars is much more elliptical then the Earth's. That is the difference between the farthest point from the Sun and the closest point to the Sun is very great for Mars, but only a slight amount for the Earth. Also, every few years, the entire planet is engulfed in global dust storms.
Observers on Mars can view transits of Phobos and transits of Deimos across the Sun. The transits of Phobos could also be called partial eclipses of the Sun by Phobos, since the angular diameter of Phobos is up to half the angular diameter of the Sun. However, in the case of Deimos the term "transit" is appropriate, since it appears as a small ...
Mars's average distance from the Sun is roughly 230 million km (143 million mi), and its orbital period is 687 (Earth) days. The solar day (or sol) on Mars is only slightly longer than an Earth day: 24 hours, 39 minutes, and 35.244 seconds. [185] A Martian year is equal to 1.8809 Earth years, or 1 year, 320 days, and 18.2 hours. [2]
A transit of Phobos from Mars usually lasts only thirty seconds or so, due to the moon's very rapid orbital period of approximately 7.6 hours. Because Phobos orbits close to Mars and in line with its equator, transits of Phobos occur somewhere on Mars on most days of the Martian year. Its orbital inclination is 1.08°, so the latitude of its ...