When is the Mars opposition of 2027?

Mars reaches opposition on February 20, 2027 (UTC). It rises at sunset and stays visible all night.

How bright will Mars be?

Around opposition Mars peaks at magnitude -1.2, with its disc 13.8 arcseconds across. That is its biggest and brightest of the apparition.

How far away is Mars at opposition?

At closest approach (February 20, 2027) Mars is 0.678 AU from Earth, about 101 million km.

What is an opposition?

The moment Earth passes directly between an outer planet and the Sun. The planet is then closest, brightest, fully sunlit, and visible from sunset to sunrise.

Space Time

Mars Opposition 2027

On February 20, 2027, Mars reaches opposition at magnitude -1.2. It rises at sunset, blazing orange and outshining every star around it, and this is its biggest and brightest showing until 2033.

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-1.2peak magnitude

0.68 AUclosest approach (101M km)

13.8″disc at its biggest

Leoconstellation

▶ See Mars at opposition in 3D Free · real ephemerides · no install

What's special about this one

Mars oppositions come only every 26 months, and each has its own character. 2027 is a modest, aphelic one. Mars stays a relatively distant 0.68 AU and reaches about magnitude −1.2 with a 13.8″ disc; the great 2033 and 2035 oppositions will be far closer. Even so, this is the best Mars season until then, and the only weeks the disc shows surface detail in amateur telescopes.

Brightness across the apparition

Visual magnitude (lower = brighter), computed daily. The gold dot marks the peak.

Apparent size

Equatorial disc diameter in arcseconds. Telescope views are best in the weeks around the peak.

Month by month

Month	Magnitude	Disc	Distance	Constellation
Oct 2026	1.0	6.2″	1.52 AU	Cnc
Nov 2026	0.9	6.6″	1.43 AU	Leo
Dec 2026	0.5	8.0″	1.17 AU	Leo
Jan 2027	-0.1	10.3″	0.91 AU	Leo
Feb 2027	-0.9	13.1″	0.72 AU	Leo
Mar 2027	-1.1	13.6″	0.69 AU	Leo
Apr 2027	-0.4	11.2″	0.84 AU	Leo
May 2027	0.3	8.7″	1.07 AU	Leo
Jun 2027	0.8	7.0″	1.33 AU	Leo

Saturn 2026 → Jupiter 2027 → All oppositions

Watch it happen

Space Time is a free in-browser planetarium. Jump to opposition night and watch Mars at its real position and brightness, or generate the full ephemeris table yourself and export it as CSV. Open the simulation.