formula.expert

Mars Orbit Semi-Major Axis

aMars=2.2792×1011 ma_{\mathrm{Mars}} = 2.2792 \times 10^{11}\ \text{m}
Value2.2792e11 m
StatusConventional / typical value
SourceNASA NSSDC Planetary Fact Sheet, Mars (semimajor axis)
CategoriesAstronomicalsolar-systemplanets
Mars Orbit Semi-Major Axis in every length unit
Planck length1.4101735e+46 lP
femtometer2.2792000e+26 fm
picometer2.2792000e+23 pm
bohr radius4.3070638e+21 a0
angstrom2.2792000e+21 Å
nanometer2.2792000e+20 nm
micrometer2.2792000e+17 μm
thou8.9732283e+15 thou
point646,072,440,000,000 pt
millimeter227,920,000,000,000 mm
pica53,839,370,000,000 pc
centimeter22,792,000,000,000 cm
inch8,973,228,300,000 in
decimeter2,279,200,000,000 dm
hand2,243,307,100,000 hh
link1,132,983,400,000 li
foot747,769,030,000 ft
US survey foot747,767,530,000 ftUS
yard249,256,340,000 yd
meter227,920,000,000 m
fathom124,628,170,000 ftm
rod45,319,335,000 rd
chain11,329,834,000 ch
cable length1,230,669,500 cb
furlong1,132,983,400 fur
kilometer227,920,000 km
mile141,622,920 mi
nautical mile123,066,950 nmi
league47,207,641 lea
megameter227,920 Mm
Earth radius35,774.604 REarth
light-second760.25929 ls
lunar distance592.92558 LD
solar radius327.61248 Rsun
light-minute12.670988 lmin
astronomical unit1.5235511 AU
light-year0.000024091163 ly
parsec0.0000073863842 pc
kiloparsec7.3863842e-09 kpc
megaparsec7.3863842e-12 Mpc
gigaparsec7.3863842e-15 Gpc

Learning zone

Modern celestial mechanics was reverse-engineered from this orbit. Kepler spent eight years fitting Tycho Brahe's Mars observations, and it was Mars's eccentricity of 0.093 — large enough that no circle-based scheme could hide it within Tycho's two-arcminute accuracy — that forced him to the ellipse in 1605. Had Tycho assigned him Venus instead, with an eccentricity of 0.007, the laws might have waited decades.

The same eccentricity swings Mars between 206.6 and 249.2 million km from the Sun, so oppositions are far from equal: when one falls near Martian perihelion, as in 2003, Earth passes within 55.8 million km and Mars outshines Jupiter; an aphelion opposition leaves it nearly twice as far. Southern-hemisphere summer coincides with perihelion, which is why southern summers are hotter, the ice cap smaller, and why that season breeds the planet-encircling dust storms.

Used by 4 solvers

Angular Diameter (Small-Angle)

θ=2Rd\theta = \frac{2R}{d}

Kepler's Third Law (Ratio Form)

T12T22=a13a23\frac{T_1^{2}}{T_2^{2}} = \frac{a_1^{3}}{a_2^{3}}

Orbital Period

T=2πr3GMT = 2\pi \sqrt{\frac{r^{3}}{GM}}

Orbital Velocity

v=GMrv = \sqrt{\frac{GM}{r}}