How far away is Mars? To determine how long it ... "It takes the Earth one year to orbit the sun and it takes Mars about 1.9 years (say 2 years for easy calculation) to orbit the sun.

There’s another complicating factor: Mars has a far thinner atmosphere ... barrier makes it easier for the sun’s high-energy particles to strip away the red planet’s atmosphere, which ...

away from Earth, which significantly enhances its visibility. Complete Illumination: At opposition, Mars is fully illuminated by the Sun. This means that the entire face of Mars is lit up ...

While Mars is still far away, it’s the closest it’s been to ... Earth and Mars catch up with each other in their respective orbits around the sun. Astronomers call this opposition, which ...