Mars how many miles from earth

This article was originally published on Aug 10, Sending spacecraft to Mars is all about precision. This intricate and complicated maneuver means knowing the exact distance from Earth to Mars. Since Mars and Earth both orbit the Sun — but at different distance, with different eccentricities, and with different orbital velocities — the distance between then is constantly changing.

The first person to ever calculate the distance to Mars was the astronomer Giovanni Cassini, famous for his observations of Saturn. Giovanni made observations of Mars in from Paris, while his colleague, Jean Richer made the same observation from Cayenne, French Guiana.

They used the parallax method to calculate the distance to Mars with surprising accuracy. However, astronomers now calculate the distance to objects in the Solar System using the speed of light. They measure the time it takes for signals to reach spacecraft orbiting other planets. They can bounce powerful radar off planets and measure the time it takes for signals to return. This allows them to measure the distance to planets, like Mars, with incredible accuracy.

So, how far away is Mars? The answer to that question changes from moment to moment because Earth and Mars are orbiting the Sun. It also requires a little explanation about the orbital mechanics of each. Both Earth and Mars are following elliptical orbits around the Sun, like two cars travelling at different speeds on two different racetracks. Whether we're talking about science or science-fiction, there's something alluring about the red planet that has kept it in our collective imagination.

That hasn't abated in recent years as more probes and rovers make the long journey to the fourth planet from the sun. Understandably, it's often hard to contextualize some of the details about the scale of the universe when Mars is in the news.

How big is Mars compared to Earth? How far away is Mars? The enormity of the distances we talk about in space can be hard to imagine, even with something as relatively close and familiar as Mars.

That can even be the case when you're stargazing and see the familiar red glow of Mars. Maybe next time you're watching the red planet get cozy with the moon or shine brightly among the stars, you'll be able to remember a little bit more about our celestial neighbor. The answer to this question varies quite a bit. Both planets are in orbit around the sun and a single year for each planet one complete orbit around the sun takes a different amount of time.

A year on Mars lasts for about Earth days or sols Mars days. The distance between Mars and Earth will vary greatly depending on where each planet is in its orbit.

At its closest approach to Earth in , Mars was about That's about the exact same distance it'll be from Earth when the planets have another close approach in Those happen roughly once every two years.

As Space. Though, the closest we've seen the two was When the planets are as far away from each other as possible, they could be as many as million miles apart. Everyone knows that Mars is one of our two neighboring planets Venus is the other , but just how far away is it?

Interestingly, the distance of the Red Planet quite tough to wrap your head around. On average, Mars is million miles away. At its very closest, Mars has been To put that in perspective, the moon is just , miles away from Earth. But there is a faster way. So fast, in fact, that it got there in days.