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The pattern of seven-day weeks repeats over a two-year cycle, i.e., the calendar year always begins on a Sunday in odd-numbered years, thus effecting a perpetual calendar for Mars. [ 27 ] Whereas previous proposals for a Martian calendar had not included an epoch, American astronomer I. M. Levitt developed a more complete system in 1954.
A Martian year is approximately 668.6 sols, equivalent to approximately 687 Earth days [1] or 1.88 Earth years. The sol was adopted in 1976 during the Viking Lander missions and is a measure of time mainly used by NASA when, for example, scheduling the use of a Mars rover .
At one point, 1.35 million Earth years ago, Mars had an eccentricity of roughly 0.002, much less than that of Earth today. [188] Mars's cycle of eccentricity is 96,000 Earth years compared to Earth's cycle of 100,000 years. [189] Mars has its closest approach to Earth in a synodic period of 779.94 days.
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An illustration of what Mars may have looked like during an ice age about 400,000 years ago caused by a large axial tilt. As on Earth, the effect of precession causes the north and south celestial poles to move in a very large circle, but on Mars the cycle is 95,500 Martian years (179,600 Earth years) [24] rather than 26,000 years as on Earth.
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While astronomers say it’s not a “perihelic opposition,” which happens every 15-17 years and only occurs when Mars is at its closest to Earth while also reaching the closest point to the sun ...
Curiosity rover on Mars (5 August 2015) The Mars Science Laboratory and its rover, Curiosity, were launched from Earth on 26 November 2011. As of February 7, 2025, Curiosity has been on the planet Mars for 4446 sols (4568 total days; 12 years, 185 days) since landing on 6 August 2012. (See Current status.)