Transit of Mars?

Question

I've heard of a Transit of Earth from Mars and a transit of Mars from Jupiter, but How come I never hear of a transit of Mars from Earth? Yes, I know that Earth is closer to the Sun than Mars, but I'm talking about when Mars is blocked out from Earth by the Sun. How come no one ever predicts that...

Answer 1

Mars passing behind the Sun is not called a transit, it would be called an occultation. A transit is when you can see the planet move across the face of the Sun and an occultation is when an object passes behind another object, like Mars passing behind the Moon. Nobody cares about an occultation of something by the Sun because it can't be observed due to the glare of the Sun. However, an occultation of a planet or asteroid or star by the Moon is interesting, and such events are predicted and widely observed.

Answer 2

A transit, is when one planet passes directly between another planet and the Sun. Only planets that are closer to the sun than the other planet can do this and even they don't always do this due to tilts in their orbits. From the earth, the only transits are Venus and Mercury (and the Moon during a solar eclipse) . From Mars, the only transits are the Earth, Venus, and Mercury.

Answer 3

What you're talking about is an occulation. A transit is when a celestial body crosses in front of the sun. An occulation is when a smaller astronomical body passes behind a larger astronomical body (wholly obscuring its view), as when a planet passes behind the sun.

The other astronomical term defined by the situation you describe is conjunction. An inferior planet (closer to the sun than Earth - Mercury and Venus) is said to be "in inferior conjunction" when it is directly between the Earth and the Sun. It is "in superior conjunction" when it is on the opposite side of the Sun from the Earth. The superior planets (the six planets farther from the Sun than Earth) are "in conjunction" when it is on the opposite side of the Sun from the Earth. A superior planet obviously cannot have an inferior conjunction.