Where is Mars tonight?

Mars in 3D

Mars lit by the Sun at this moment and seen from Earth’s direction, so its phase matches what a telescope shows. Drag to turn it. The time slider moves the light and the rotation.

Where to find Mars among the stars

Two finder charts for today: a wide field to find the right part of the sky and a closer field with fainter stars. North is up and east on the left, as the sky looks to the naked eye. The dotted line marks its path over the coming weeks, one dot per week.

Stars: HYG Database. Constellation figures: Stellarium. Deep-sky objects: OpenNGC (Messier objects marked M).

Visibility over the next 12 months

Angle between Mars and the Sun on the 15th of each month. The further from the Sun, the darker the sky around it. Colour shows whether it is in the evening or the morning sky.

Ephemeris for the next 15 days

Position at 0:00 UTC each day as seen from the centre of the Earth (apparent coordinates of date), calculated with Astronomy Engine.

Distance from Earth

Distance from Earth over the past and the coming year. The closest approach in this period: February 20, 2027, 101.4 million km.

Brightness

Visual magnitude over the same two years. Higher on the chart is brighter.

Coming up

• Nov 2, 2026Moon near Mars
• Nov 15, 2026Conjunction of Mars and Jupiter
• Nov 26, 2026Conjunction of Mars and Regulus
• Nov 30, 2026Moon near Mars
• Feb 19, 2027Mars at opposition
• Mar 19, 2027Moon near Mars
• Apr 15, 2027Moon near Mars
• May 13, 2027Moon near Mars

Facts

Moon count: NASA, page updated November 5, 2024

Source: NASA planetary fact sheet (Oct 12, 2026). Calculated with Astronomy Engine, an open-source library verified against the US Naval Observatory and NASA JPL. Data sources

Gravity compared: Mars and Earth

Drop, jump and throw side by side: Mars on one side, Earth or any other world on the other. Pick a world to compare, or open the full tool. Open the gravity tool

Latest NASA images of Mars

The newest images about it in NASA’s Photojournal, updated daily. Open one for NASA’s full caption and the original file.

NASA news about Mars

• Oct 8, 2026NASA Briefing to Highlight Contributions to Martian Moons Mission
• Oct 6, 2026NASA’s Curiosity Rover Catches Stunning Martian Dawn
• Sep 21, 2026NASA Discovery Reveals Complex Water Systems on Early Mars
• Sep 16, 2026NASA’s Integrated Medical Model (IMM)
• Sep 1, 2026NASA Selects Blue Origin as Mars Telecommunications Network Provider
• Aug 5, 2026NASA’s Perseverance Rover Watches Earth Vanish Behind Martian Moon

Headlines from NASA’s news feeds (in English), updated daily. Last checked October 13, 2026.

Discoveries and exploration

Key moments in the study of Mars, each linked to its source.

1. August 1877Asaph Hall discovers Mars's two moons, Phobos and Deimos. Source
2. July 15, 1965Mariner 4 makes the first flyby of Mars and returns the first close-up photos of another planet. Source · Recent NASA photos
3. November 14, 1971Mariner 9 enters Mars orbit, the first spacecraft to orbit another planet. Source
4. 1971The Soviet Mars 3 lander makes a survivable landing, but contact is lost seconds after touchdown. Source
5. July 20, 1976NASA's Viking 1 lander touches down on Mars; it operated until November 1982. Source
6. July 4, 1997Mars Pathfinder lands in Ares Vallis, delivering the Sojourner rover. Source
7. January 3, 2004Rover Spirit lands, followed by Opportunity on Jan. 24, to look for signs of past water. Source
8. May 25, 2008Phoenix lands in the Martian arctic and goes on to verify water ice beneath the surface. Source
9. August 6, 2012NASA's Curiosity rover lands to determine whether Mars was ever able to support microbial life. Source
10. February 18, 2021NASA's Perseverance rover lands in Jezero Crater to seek signs of ancient life and collect samples. Source
11. April 19, 2021The Ingenuity helicopter makes the first powered, controlled flight on Mars. Source
12. September 10, 2025NASA reports that Perseverance's Sapphire Canyon rock sample contains potential biosignatures. Source

Checked against the linked NASA, ESA and NOAA pages on October 10, 2026.

How to use this page

Choose your place and a night at the top: tonight by default, or one of the dates under it. The tiles show when Mars rises, is highest and sets, and the numbers that matter for that night. Below them you find where it is right now, the sky in 3D with Mars marked, finder charts, the year ahead and the facts.

What the numbers mean

Rises and sets

When the top edge of the disc meets a flat horizon, with the bending of light by the air included, as in almanacs. A time on another day carries its date.

Highest

When it crosses the meridian, due south or due north, and its height above the horizon then.

Direction and height

The compass point and azimuth to face, counted from north through east, and the angle above the horizon. A fist at arm’s length covers about 10°.

Distance and apparent size

How far away it is from Earth’s centre at that moment and how wide it looks in the sky, in arcminutes (′) or arcseconds (″).

Magnitude

Brightness: the smaller the number, the brighter. About 6 is the faintest the eye sees under a dark sky.

How accurate it is

Positions and times come from Astronomy Engine. In our tests positions agree with NASA JPL’s Horizons to within one arcminute, and rise and set times of the Sun and the Moon to within two minutes. Times assume a flat horizon at your place, so hills and buildings change when you actually see it rise or set. Methodology

Frequently asked questions