{"id":51845,"date":"2023-11-16T08:17:56","date_gmt":"2023-11-16T08:17:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/0d4a8130-eac9-4405-9cd9-5e9d3807b5af"},"modified":"2023-11-16T08:34:25","modified_gmt":"2023-11-16T08:34:25","slug":"how-long-is-a-day-on-mars","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/how-long-is-a-day-on-mars\/","title":{"rendered":"How long is a day on Mars?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mars days vs Earth days, sidereal vs solar: how long would you have if you spent a day on the Red Planet? <\/p>

By Russell Deeks\n <\/p>

Published: Thursday, 16 November 2023 at 08:17 AM<\/p>

\n\n

Would you like to spend a day on Mars? How long would you have between sunrise and sunset on the Red planet?<\/p>

If you ever wanted to see what the night sky looks like on Mars<\/a>, a future trip to the Red Planet might be on your bucket list.<\/p>

But would a Martian day really be so much different to a day on Earth?<\/p>

Martian sunrise captured by the Insight lander, 10 APRIL 2022. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/figcaption><\/figure>

The Solar System\u2019s planets<\/a> vary greatly in terms of their physical magnitude, speed of rotation and the size of their orbits around the Sun.<\/p>

This means what constitutes a day or a year on a given planet can differ greatly from what we experience here on Earth.<\/p>

A day on Jupiter<\/a>, for instance, is over in just 10 hours, while a day on Venus<\/a> lasts for a whopping 243 Earth days (and Venus spins backwards<\/a>)!<\/p>

\"How
An image showing sunset at Gusev Crater on Mars, captured by NASA’s Spirit Mars rover in 2005. Credit: NASA\/JPL\/Texas A&M\/Cornell<\/figcaption><\/figure>

A day on Mars vs a day on Earth<\/strong><\/h2>

Mars is remarkably similar to Earth in many ways.<\/p>

The two planets are of roughly similar size, rotate at roughly similar speeds and are located comparatively close together within the Solar System. <\/p>

So a Martian day isn\u2019t actually that much different from an Earth day.<\/p>

In fact, where the average day on Earth lasts about 23.9 hours, a Martian day lasts for about 24.6 hours. <\/p>

And what\u2019s just over half an hour between friends?<\/p>

\"End
End of another day on Mars! This image is one of the first images of a sunset on Mars, captured by the Viking 1 lander. Credit: NASA\/JPL\/LaRC<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Sideral and solar days<\/strong><\/h2>

The answer as to how long a Mars day actually is does depend on whether you\u2019re talking about sidereal or solar days.<\/p>

These are defined by the period of time you have to wait before a given star or the Sun, respectively, returns to the same position in the sky.<\/p>

The two are not the same because when you\u2019re looking at distant stars, you\u2019re effectively looking from a fixed position.<\/p>

Whereas when you\u2019re looking at the much-nearer Sun, you also have to take into account Earth\u2019s movement around it.<\/p>

\"NASA
NASA sunrise on Mars image captured by the Phoenix lander on 25 August 2008. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/University of Arizona\/Texas A&M University<\/figcaption><\/figure>

As a result, solar days are slightly longer than sidereal days.<\/p>

A sidereal day on Mars lasts for \u00a024 hours, 37 minutes and 22 seconds, while a solar day on the Red Planet is 24 hours, 39 minutes and 35 seconds.<\/p>

To avoid potential confusion \u2013 eg, when planning space missions \u2013 astronomers tend to talk about solar days, or \u2018Mars sols\u2019 when it comes to the Red Planet specifically.<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n

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