Mars this month

Mars is in the morning sky, 77° west of the Sun: look before dawn. It shines at magnitude +0.9 in Cancer.

Magnitude: +0.9
Constellation: Cancer
From the Sun: 77° west
Distance: 1.48 AU (221 million km)
Apparent size: 6.3″
Position: RA 9h 13m, Dec +17.6°

Mars in true colour, a rust-orange globe with dark surface markings. ESA & MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO, via Wikimedia Commons.

Rise and set today in six cities

City	Sunset	Mars rises	Mars sets	Sunrise
London	16:44	23:17	14:33	06:43
New York	17:59	00:45	14:57	07:19
Los Angeles	18:05	00:56	14:39	07:07
Singapore	18:50	01:57	14:04	06:46
Sydney	19:17	02:38	13:05	06:01
Cape Town	19:09	02:28	12:55	05:52

Local times on 26 October 2026. A planet that rises before sunset and sets after it is up in the evening; one that rises in the small hours is a morning object.

The year ahead

Angular distance from the Sun as seen from Earth. Inside the shaded band (15°) a planet is lost in twilight.

Coming events

Opposition: 19 February 2027, 15:50 UTC (opposite the Sun: up all night, closest and brightest)
Conjunction: 21 March 2028, 02:35 UTC (behind the Sun, not visible)
Opposition: 25 March 2029, 07:49 UTC (opposite the Sun: up all night, closest and brightest)

Close approaches

2 November 2026: the Moon and Mars 1.0° apart
16 November 2026: Mars and Jupiter 1.2° apart
30 November 2026: the Moon and Mars 3.0° apart
15 April 2027: the Moon and Mars 3.0° apart
13 May 2027: the Moon and Mars 3.0° apart
25 November 2027: Venus and Mars 0.3° apart
30 November 2027: the Moon and Mars 1.5° apart
29 December 2027: the Moon and Mars 0.5° apart

Seeing Mars

Mars is easiest to recognise by its colour, a steady orange-red. Its brightness changes more than any other planet's: around opposition, which comes roughly every 26 months, it can outshine every star, while at the far side of its orbit it fades to an unremarkable point. Near opposition it also appears to move backwards against the stars for a few weeks.