New Year of 38 on Mars

Nov. 12 () –

On November 12, 2024, a new year has begun on Mars. At exactly 09:32 UTC on Earth, the Red Planet began a new orbit around our Sun.

This is the Martian year number 38. The convention for counting years in the Martian calendar began in 1955, and the first year coincided with a large storm called “the great dust storm of 1956”.

According to the ESAthere are some significant differences between the years on the two planets:

– Days: a Martian day is called “sol” and lasts 24 hours and 39 minutes, a little more than an Earth day.

– Years: a year on Mars is equivalent to 687 Earth days, or 668 suns, almost twice as long as an Earth year. To know our Martian age, we must divide the Earth’s age by 1.88.

– New Year: the Martian New Year begins on the northern equinox (spring in the north and autumn in the south on Mars).

– Stations: Like Earth, Mars has four seasons: winter, spring, summer and autumn.. Unlike Earth’s seasons, Martian seasons do not have the same length due to Mars’ more elliptical orbit. The planet’s axial tilt causes the northern hemisphere to receive more sunlight during the northern summer and the southern hemisphere to receive more sunlight in the northern winter. Winter and summer come when the northern and southern hemispheres move away from the sun in turn.

– Dust seasons: The second half of the Martian year is usually marked by fierce dust storms which, sometimes, can affect the entire planet. As Mars approaches the sun, the atmosphere warms, causing winds to stir up very fine brown soil particles. Once in the air, these brown particles heat up and redistribute some of that heat to the surrounding atmosphere. This process can quickly pump out a large amount of powder.

– Climate: temperature fluctuations between day and night are extreme on Mars. At noon on a summer day, the air temperature can reach 0ºC, but at night it drops to -60ºC. In winter, night temperatures are even colder, reaching -110ºC. A recurring meteorological phenomenon is the Mons Arsia Elongated Cloud, a cloud of ice crystals that can reach up to 1,800 kilometers in length.