Mars: The Red Planet and the Fire of Your Drive

What is Mars?

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun: a rocky world 6,792 km across, about half Earth’s width, red from iron oxide (rust) in its dust. It orbits the Sun at an average of 227.9 million km (1.52 au) and goes around in 687 days. It has the tallest volcano in the solar system, Olympus Mons, about 22 km high, and two small moons, Phobos and Deimos. Its distance from Earth varies a lot, from under 60 million km at a close approach to about 400 million km on the far side of the Sun.

Where Mars is in the sky

The ecliptic is the path the Sun appears to follow across our sky over a year, the plane of Earth’s orbit seen from Earth. Positions along it are measured in degrees, from 0° at the March equinox to 360°. The zodiac divides it into twelve equal 30° parts named after signs: Aries covers 0° to 30°, Taurus 30° to 60°, and so on. The signs are counted from the equinox, not from the star patterns they were named after; those constellations now sit about 24° further along, because Earth’s axis slowly wobbles (precession).

Mars moves along the ecliptic at up to about 0.8° a day and usually spends six to eight weeks in a sign, longer in a retrograde year (above). Its retrogrades are also when Mars is closest and brightest in our sky.

Mars in astrology

In astrology Mars stands for drive and action: energy, courage, desire, competition and anger. It rules Aries, and in traditional astrology also Scorpio. Its retrograde periods are read as a time to redirect effort rather than force things.