What is the distance between earth and mars?

Answer 1

It varies, depending on where the two planets happen to be in their orbits.

Answer 2

If the orbits of Earth and Mars were circles, Mars would be the same distance from Earth at every opposition. But the orbits are actually ellipses (oval-shaped), with the Sun offset from the centre. Mars, more so than Earth, follows a very non-circular orbit, so its distance from the Sun varies by 26.5 million miles (42.4 million km). This means that the distance between Earth and Mars at an opposition can be anything between about 35 million miles (56 million km) and 63 million miles (100 million km).

Answer 3

The answer to your question can vary greatly at any point in time depending on where Earth and Mars are in their respective orbits.
Earth and Mars (or any two planets for that matter) are not synchronized in their orbit around the Sun. At any one point in time, Earth and Mars could be on opposite sides of the sun (farthest point away from each other) or lined up directly with each other so that a straight line could be drawn between Mars, Earth, and the sun (their closest point).

The Earth obits at an average distance of 149.6 E6 km away from the sun.
Mars orbits at an average distance of 227.9 E6 km from the sun.

At their closest point, Earth and Mars could be as "close" as 78.3 million kilometers, or at their fastest point apart, there could be as much as 377.5 million km.

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/index.html

Answer 4

The distance between Earth and mars is 128,402,967 mi or1.38133346 AU.

Answer 5

Distance from Earth
Minimum (10^6 km) 55.7
Maximum (10^6 km) 401.3

Answer 6

I believe the distance b/n earth and mars is 49 million kms.

Answer 7

The distance between Earth and mars is 128,402,967 mi or1.38133346 AU.


Mass (1024 kg) 1,989,100. 5.9736 333,000.
GM (x 106 km3/s2) 132,712. 0.3986 333,000.
Volume (1012 km3) 1,412,000. 1.083 1,304,000.
Volumetric mean radius (km) 696,000. 6371. 109.2
Mean density (kg/m3) 1408. 5515. 0.255
Surface gravity (eq.) (m/s2) 274.0 9.78 28.0
Escape velocity (km/s) 617.6 11.19 55.2
Ellipticity 0.00005 0.0034 0.015
Moment of inertia (I/MR2) 0.059 0.3308 0.178
Visual magnitude V(1,0) -26.74 -3.86 -
Absolute magnitude +4.83
Luminosity (1024 J/s) 384.6
Mass conversion rate (106 kg/s) 4300.
Mean energy production (10-3 J/kg) 0.1937
Surface emission (106 J/m2s) 63.29
Spectral type G2 V

Model values at center of Sun:
Central pressure: 2.477 x 1011 bar
Central temperature: 1.571 x 107 K
Central density: 1.622 x 105 kg/m3

Answer 8

Mass (1024 kg) 1,989,100. 5.9736 333,000.
GM (x 106 km3/s2) 132,712. 0.3986 333,000.
Volume (1012 km3) 1,412,000. 1.083 1,304,000.
Volumetric mean radius (km) 696,000. 6371. 109.2
Mean density (kg/m3) 1408. 5515. 0.255
Surface gravity (eq.) (m/s2) 274.0 9.78 28.0
Escape velocity (km/s) 617.6 11.19 55.2
Ellipticity 0.00005 0.0034 0.015
Moment of inertia (I/MR2) 0.059 0.3308 0.178
Visual magnitude V(1,0) -26.74 -3.86 -
Absolute magnitude +4.83
Luminosity (1024 J/s) 384.6
Mass conversion rate (106 kg/s) 4300.
Mean energy production (10-3 J/kg) 0.1937
Surface emission (106 J/m2s) 63.29
Spectral type G2 V

Model values at center of Sun:
Central pressure: 2.477 x 1011 bar
Central temperature: 1.571 x 107 K
Central density: 1.622 x 105 kg/m3

Answer 9

At the end of August 2003, Mars is closest to the Earth (in its perigee) and directly opposite the Sun in the sky (in opposition). (These two phenomena are never very far apart.) It is not very remarkable by itself that Mars is in opposition and perigee, because this happens about every 26 months, but this time Mars gets closer than it has for thousands of years, though not that much closer that it merits a lot of brouhaha.

The Earth and Mars both revolve around the Sun in their respective orbits. Mars is on average about one and a half times as far from the Sun as the Earth is and therefore goes around the Sun slower than the Earth does. Every 26 months the Earth overtakes Mars, and then Mars is in its perigee and in opposition as well.

The orbits of Mars and the Earth are not perfect cirles but rather a bit oblong, and the center of each orbit is shifted away a bit from the Sun. This so-called eccentricity of the orbits (and especially of the orbit of Mars) causes the smallest distance between Mars and the Earth when the Earth overtakes Mars not to be the same every time.

When the Earth overtakes Mars in a region of space where their orbits are closer together, then the smallest distance between them will be smaller than average, and that is the case in August 2003. Such an extra-small distance occurs about every eighth opposition, or about once every 17 years.

The average smallest distance between Mars and the Earth is 78 million kilometers or 48 million miles (and the average greatest distance is 378 miljoen kilometers or 235 million miles), but that smallest distance can vary, because of the eccentricity, between about 56 million kilometers (35 million miles) and 101 million kilometers (63 million miles): that's a ratio of almost two. This time it is 56 million kilometers or 35 million miles.

It turns out that the smallest distance this time is the smallest since many thousands of years, but the difference with "normal" extra-small distances is itself small. As far as pictures or other observations are concerned, this opposition won't be noticeably different from other recent oppositions at an extra-small distance.

If Mars is closer than average, then it looks brighter and (in a telescope) bigger than average. Mars is now (mid-August 2003) much brighter in the sky than usual. However, this opposition of Mars is not equally well visible for everybody. We distinguish between observers in the arctic region (I, for example northern Canada), between the northern polar circle at 67° north latitude and the northern tropic at 23° north latitude (II, the northern temperate zone, for example central Europe), between the tropics (III, the tropics, for example Indonesia), between the southern tropic at 23° south latitude and the southern polar cirle at 67° southern latitude (IV, the southern temperate zone, for example South-Africa), and the antarctic region (V).

For observers north of the tropics (in zones I and II), Mars is in an unfavorable part of the ecliptic, so it doesn't get very high above the horizon there (and is not visible at all in the arctic region), loses more of its brightness to absorption of its light in the atmosphere of the Earth, and doesn't stay above the horizon for very long at night. In those respects, other recent extra-close oppositions were much better, though slightly less close.

For observers south of the tropics (zones IV and V), Mars is now in a favorable part of the ecliptic. There, Mars gets high in the sky and stays long above the horizon at night (it stays above the horizon all the time as seen from the antarctic region). For observers in the tropics (zone III), it does not matter in which part of the ecliptic Mars is.

Mars is now (August - September 2003) easy to spot. From the northern temperate zone (II, including the Netherlands and Belgium) Mars is the brighest "star" that you can see around midnight towards the south. In the tropics (zone III), look straight up around midnight. South of the tropics (zones IV and V), look towards the north around midnight.

Mars rises in the east (in the south east as seen from zone II, in the north east as seen from zone IV), moves towards the west, and then sets in the west (the south west as seen from zone II, the north west as seen from zone IV).

At the moment (mid-August 2003), Mars rises an hour or so after sunset and sets only after sunrise, but at the end of August Mars rises at sunset, and in September Mars is already up when the Sun sets. There are no bright stars in the region of the sky where Mars is, so it is almost impossible to miss.

Answer 10

Why? You want to make a trip to the Red Planet?