SkyEye

The upper chart shows the path of Mars across the background stars over the course of the year. Stars to magnitude +4.5 are shown with some fainter objects included to complete constellation patterns. The white circles represent the planet on the first day of the month and are scaled according to apparent magnitude. The faint paths before the first circle and after the last circle represent the planet's positions in December of last year and January of next. In general, the planet moves from right to left except when it's in retrograde and proceding in the opposite direction.

The lower chart shows how the appearance of Mars changes over the year. Below each image is listed the date, the apparent magnitude, the apparent diameter of the disk (in arc-seconds), the geocentric distance (in au) and the percentage of the disk which is illuminated. Note that Mars appears distinctly gibbous near the times of quadrature.

Mars is missing in action as the year opens, undergoing conjunction in January and moving from the evening to the morning sky. It will remain a morning sky object all year for those in the southern hemisphere but will eventually appear in the evening sky around September for observers from northern temperate latitudes. The red planet is in direct motion throughout the year, traversing the zodiac from Sagittarius to Leo, with a few days spent in Cetus. It brightens from first magnitude to negative values by the end of December as it approaches opposition in 2027. The Moon occults Mars three times and the bright planet passes near several interesting deep-sky objects in the second half of the year, gliding right through the centre of the Beehive open cluster in October. It is found near Jupiter in November, around the same time it reaches west quadrature.

All times and dates are in UT with the time given to the nearest hour unless otherwise indicated. Positions are geocentric apparent places and referred to the true equator and equinox of date.