DELTA-V // PLANETARY FIX
Mars is 237 million km away
That is 1.58 astronomical units, and light from it takes 13.2 minutes to reach you. Computed for this moment rather than quoted as an average — Mars’s distance from Earth changes constantly, and an average is wrong on almost every day of the year.
COMPUTED 2026-10-12 17:25:34Z · RECOMPUTED EVERY 15 MINUTES
Drag the globe to spin it, or use the view buttons. The shaded side is night, placed from the real Sun–Mars–Earth angle, and surface features are drawn at their real coordinates. Which face is turned toward Earth right now is not computed — the longitude you are looking at is explorable rather than current.
Right now
- DISTANCE
- 1.58 AU
- 237 million km
- LIGHT TIME
- 13.2 min
- one way
- BRIGHTNESS
- +1.1
- naked eye
- APPARENT SIZE
- 5.9″
- 304× smaller than the Moon
- LIT
- 90%
- of the disc
- FROM THE SUN
- 71°
- angular separation
- IN THE SKY
- morning
- rises before the Sun
- SUN DISTANCE
- 1.57 AU
- its own orbit
What Mars is actually like
Cold, dry and thin-aired. The only other surface humans have driven on.
- TEMPERATURE
- -65 °CMean, at the surface, mean
- PRESSURE
- 0.006 bar0.006 bar — about 1/160th of Earth's
- WINDS
- 97 km/hFastest sustained winds recorded
- ONE DAY
- 24.7 hoursSunrise to sunrise
- ATMOSPHERE
- 95% carbon dioxide, 2.8% nitrogen, 2% argon
PUBLISHED REFERENCE VALUES FROM NASA FACT SHEETS · NOT LIVE READINGS · NO SPACECRAFT REPORTS LIVE WEATHER FROM MARS
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Common questions
How far away is Mars right now?
Mars is 237 million kilometres from Earth at the moment — 1.58 astronomical units, or 13 light-minutes. That figure changes constantly as both planets move: this page recomputes it rather than quoting an average, because an average is wrong on almost every day of the year.
Can I see Mars tonight?
Yes, with the naked eye. Mars is at magnitude +1.1 and sits 71 degrees from the Sun, making it a morning object that rises before it. Look for the point of light that does not twinkle.
How long does light take to reach us from Mars?
13.2 minutes at the moment. You are always seeing Mars as it was that long ago, and the delay changes as the distance does — it is a direct consequence of the 237 million kilometres between us.
How hot is Mars?
-65°C on average, measured at the surface, mean. 0.006 bar — about 1/160th of Earth's. This is a published reference value rather than a live reading — no spacecraft currently reports live weather from Mars, and nothing on this page pretends otherwise.
How big does Mars look from Earth?
5.9 arcseconds across right now. For scale, the full Moon is about 1,800 arcseconds — so Mars is roughly 304 times smaller than the Moon in apparent size, which is why it looks like a point of light without a telescope.