How Long Is A Year On Mars (And Why)?

Exact Answer: 687 Days

Since Mars is about 1.5 times as far from the Sun as Earth, a year on the red planet lasts almost twice as long. The average time it takes for Mars to orbit around the Sun is 687 days Earth days, which means that each day on Mars lasts 40 minutes longer.

This is because it takes approximately twice as long for Mars to orbit around the Sun as Earth does. The length of time in which one season lasts on Mars also varies depending on where one is located and how close or far away from the equator they are. 

How Long Is A Year On Mars?

On average, a year on Mars is 687 days long. A year on mars can be longer than an earth year if anyone is in one of two spots: at either pole or about halfway between them, when it points toward the Sun during summertime (which happens every couple of years). 

In these areas, each day will last almost 24 hours and 30 minutes, meaning seasons last for over 2 Earth years. 

Mars takes 24 hours 37 minutes  and 22 seconds earth hours to rotate on its axis, making its day 18 hours and 37 minutes long. However, it only has an orbit of about 249.229 around the Sun at any given time, meaning that when it’s in the position closest to the Sun, it will reach across 70 million kms at the quickest.

Then, compared with Earth which rotates every 24 hours and zips around 67000 miles per hour around our star.

Because the atmosphere of Mars is a hundred times thinner than that of Earth, daily temperature swings are also significant. A summer night on Mars might fall to -100 degrees Celsius without a ‘thermal blanket’ to trap the Sun’s heat.

Because the Earth’s orbit is elliptical, each planet in our solar system has a different length of day. The length of the day on Mars is 1.025957 days longer than that on Earth, which means that one Martian day equals 1.025957 Earth days.

Why Would A Year On Mars Be So Long?

A year on Mars is about 1.9 Earth years because of its orbit around the Sun and has a day that lasts 24 hours and 37 minutes, which is longer than Earth’s 24-hour day.

The faster speed of the planet results in a bigger orbit and fewer orbits before it repeats similar positions, which gives one Martian “day” very similar to the intervals of intervals on earth.

A Martian year is around six hundred days on Earth. A day on Mars lasts 24 hours and 39 minutes. This means life on Mars would go by at double the speed of life on Earth, so basically twice as fast. One’s age is about one year longer on Mars than on Earth. If one is 41 years old on Earth but 42 years old on Mars.

Seasons on Mars, caused by a similar axial tilt to Earth’s (25.19° versus Earth’s 23.4°), are more comparable to those we experience on Earth than on any other planet. However, because of the slower rotation rate, the length of Martian days varies somewhat. In the summer, they lengthen and get darker earlier in the day, while in the winter, they become shorter and lighter.

However, because Mars is so far away from the Sun, seasonal changes last twice as long. This causes the Martian year to be about 686.971 Earth days in length – which works out to 668.5991 Martian days (or Sols) – making it two times longer than Earth. 

Conclusion

Extreme weather is not limited to Earth. The other planets are home to some extremely furious weather. Dust devils whip across the surface of Mars. Although they aren’t hazardous in most cases, they are comparable to twisters.

On Mars, two seasons exist as well- summer and winter. One Martian day lasts 24 hours and 37 minutes, so one Martian year equals 687 days.

It turns out this makes for an interesting comparison because, during these six months of darkness, over 60% of all life dies off every time due to freezing temperatures and other factors like lack of water and oxygen in the air. 

References

1. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1992mars.book..835Z/abstract 
2. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1992mars.book..818O/abstract