<p>TheSkyLive's <a href="https://theskylive.com/mars-info" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Mars information page</a> has graphs of its distance and apparent magnitude from Earth.
If you set the same year range for each, you can see how the quantities are related.
They provide similar pages for all the planets and selected comets and asteroids.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-11-14T14:21:03.970Z
2020-11-14T14:21:03.970Z
Mike G
<p>Not quite what you want:<br />
<a href="https://spider.seds.org/spider/Mars/marsopps.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Following is a list of all close encounters when Mars has approached, or will approach Earth closer than 56.00 million km .. during the first 3 millennia A.D. (1 AD to 3000 AD).</a></p>
<p>Also, the maximum apparent magnitude may be a few days from the closest approach. See: <a href="https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/close-and-far-martian-oppositions#:%7E:text=Mars%20comes%20closest%20to%20Earth,today%20on%20October%206%2C%202020." rel="nofollow noreferrer">The cycle of close and far Martian oppositions</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-11-14T03:55:39.257Z
2020-11-14T03:55:39.257Z
Keith McClary
<p>I tried to search online but failed to find a graph of the apparent magnitude of Mars over time from 2000 to present.</p>
<p>From <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars#Closest_approaches" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Wikipedia</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Mars made its closest approach to Earth and maximum apparent
brightness in nearly 60,000 years, 55,758,006 km (0.37271925 AU;
34,646,419 mi), magnitude −2.88, on 27 August 2003. ...</p>
<p>Every 15 to 17 years, Mars comes into opposition near its perihelion. These perihelic oppositions make a closer approach to
earth than other oppositions which occur every 2.1 years. Mars comes
into perihelic opposition in 2003, 2018 and 2035, with 2020 and 2033
being close to perihelic opposition.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So I am very curious how the present 2020 perihelic opposition apparent magnitude of Mars compare to the previous ones. It would be even more interesting if the graph also contains the distance to earth.</p>
<p>Could anyone point me to where I can find such a graph? Thanks.</p>

<observational-astronomy><mars><apparent-magnitude><magnitude>
Graph of apparent magnitude of Mars through time from around 2000 to present?
HaoQi Li
# Graph of apparent magnitude of Mars through time from around 2000 to present?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-11-14)

I tried to search online but failed to find a graph of the apparent magnitude of Mars over time from 2000 to present.

From [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars#Closest_approaches):

> Mars made its closest approach to Earth and maximum apparent
> brightness in nearly 60,000 years, 55,758,006 km (0.37271925 AU;
> 34,646,419 mi), magnitude −2.88, on 27 August 2003. ...
>
> Every 15 to 17 years, Mars comes into opposition near its perihelion. These perihelic oppositions make a closer approach to
> earth than other oppositions which occur every 2.1 years. Mars comes
> into perihelic opposition in 2003, 2018 and 2035, with 2020 and 2033
> being close to perihelic opposition.

So I am very curious how the present 2020 perihelic opposition apparent magnitude of Mars compare to the previous ones. It would be even more interesting if the graph also contains the distance to earth.

Could anyone point me to where I can find such a graph? Thanks.

**Tags:** observational-astronomy, mars, apparent-magnitude, magnitude


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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2020-11-14. Score: 3

TheSkyLive's [Mars information page](https://theskylive.com/mars-info) has graphs of its distance and apparent magnitude from Earth.
If you set the same year range for each, you can see how the quantities are related.
They provide similar pages for all the planets and selected comets and asteroids.


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### Answer by username_2 on 2020-11-14. Score: 2

Not quite what you want:  
[Following is a list of all close encounters when Mars has approached, or will approach Earth closer than 56.00 million km .. during the first 3 millennia A.D. (1 AD to 3000 AD).](https://spider.seds.org/spider/Mars/marsopps.html)

Also, the maximum apparent magnitude may be a few days from the closest approach. See: [The cycle of close and far Martian oppositions](https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/close-and-far-martian-oppositions#:%7E:text=Mars%20comes%20closest%20to%20Earth,today%20on%20October%206%2C%202020.)


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