Martian years last twice as long as Earth years, and a different calendar system is used for Mars. That’s why Mars fans are celebrating the Martian new year earlier this year.
As of yesterday, the new year of Mars began. “No, we don’t accidentally celebrate the new year early,” said a post from NASA’s Mars Twitter account. According to the Gregorian calendar, which is used in most of the world, it starts on January 1 every year. But on Mars, the red planet’s 37th year has already begun.
But how was this number 37 determined? It was the first time a spacecraft passed by Mars on July 14, 1965, as part of the Mariner 4 mission. But scientists began counting the Martian years with the 1955 spring equinox. “Yes, it’s a randomly chosen spot for this calendar, but it’s still good to have a system,” NASA said on its Twitter account, adding: “Counting the Martian years allows scientists to track long-term observations. For example, we can cite weather data recorded over decades.”
Numbering Mars years helps scientists keep track of long term observations, like weather data collected by NASA spacecraft over the decades.
Latest weather from:@MarsCuriosity – https://t.co/MarlquNr9w@NASAPersevere – https://t.co/orZ6WcqSNi pic.twitter.com/VSOkqFjbXw
— NASA Mars (@NASAMars) December 26, 2022
Because Mars is farther from the Sun than Earth, it takes roughly twice as long for the Red Planet to orbit our sun. A Martian year is 687 days long.
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