{"id":801848,"date":"2026-04-22T08:03:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T13:03:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=801848"},"modified":"2026-04-22T08:03:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T13:03:29","slug":"summer-solstice-in-mars-southern-hemisphere-is-april-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=801848","title":{"rendered":"Summer solstice in Mars\u2019 southern hemisphere is April 25"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Seasons on Mars: The Rhythm of Time \u2014 Longer, Wilder, Stranger\" width=\"1110\" height=\"624\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LCCmznY0Eic?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/><em>On Earth, nothing could feel as familiar as the passing of our seasons. And our days are steady, too \u2013 24 hours, over and over, all our lives. But not so on Mars. Different world, just one step outward from Earth. Same laws of nature \u2026 but alien all the same. In this livestream, EarthSky\u2019s Deborah Byrd explores the seasons on the red planet, and how even small differences in time and orbit can reshape our perception of a world. Watch in the player above or on YouTube.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>Summer solstice in Mars\u2019 southern hemisphere<\/h3>\n<p>Earth\u2019s next solstice will fall at 8:25 UTC on June 21, 2026. It\u2019ll be a summer solstice for the Northern Hemisphere (and a winter solstice for the Southern Hemisphere). It\u2019ll happen when Earth\u2019s south pole is tilted most toward the sun. <\/p>\n<p>Like Earth, Mars <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/physicsJ\/status\/1079061451845890048\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">tilts<\/a> on its axis with respect to its orbit around the sun. It tilts by about 25 degrees, in contrast to Earth\u2019s 23.5 degrees. So Mars has equinoxes and solstices as well. And Mars\u2019 summer solstice for its southern hemisphere arrives on April 25, 2026. <\/p>\n<h3>Like Earth, Mars has 4 seasons<\/h3>\n<p>Mars takes 687 Earth-days to orbit the sun once. That\u2019s almost 2 Earth-years. So each season on Mars \u2013 winter, spring, summer, fall \u2013 lasts roughly twice as long as a season on Earth.<\/p>\n<p>And, meanwhile, although the image below is exaggerated, it shows that the orbit of Mars is more squashed than that of Earth. Astronomers say it\u2019s more elliptical. Mars is farther from the sun during southern winter \u2026 and closer during southern summer. So the Mars southern hemisphere has shorter, hotter, more extreme seasons.<\/p>\n<p>So \u2013 now, in April 2026, as Mars\u2019 northern hemisphere of is tipping into the deepest part of winter \u2013 its southern hemisphere is celebrating summer. Of course, nothing is blooming. To date, scientists haven\u2019t confirmed life on Mars, today or in the past. But there\u2019s still seasonal change, just as there is in the most Mars-like places on Earth \u2026 Antarctica, for example. <\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_543776\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-543776\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-543776\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mars has 4 seasons, just as Earth does. But the Mars seasons last twice as long, because Mars takes 2 years to orbit the sun once. Summer solstice for Mars\u2019 southern hemisphere falls on April 25, 2026. And the southern hemisphere has \u201charsher\u201d seasons than in the north. During southern winter, Mars is farthest away from the sun in its elliptical orbit. Winter in Mars\u2019 southern hemisphere is colder, because then Mars is the farthest away from the sun, moving more slowly in its orbit. Going from winter to warmer spring can be quite dramatic. Spring for the rovers on Mars is the start of the dust season. By summer, global dust storms can blanket the whole planet. Image via NASA.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>The season of dust<\/h3>\n<p>Because Mars\u2019 orbit is so squashed, relative to Earth\u2019s, its closest and farthest points to the sun are more extreme than Earth\u2019s. And Mars\u2019 closest point to the sun \u2013 its perihelion \u2013 always happens near the Mars southern summer. In 2026, perihelion for Mars happened on March 26.<\/p>\n<p>So Mars is relatively closest to the sun around now. It\u2019s moving fastest in orbit. And that\u2019s why the Mars southern summers are shorter, hotter, and more volatile than in the north. During the Mars southern summertime, dust storms can kick up, sometimes growing large enough to wrap around the entire planet. In the image below \u2013 from the Hubble Space Telescope in 2018 \u2013 you can see what the last global dust storm on Mars looked like. No surface features were visible because \u2013 for some months in 2018, centered on the Martian southern summer \u2013 Mars was shrouded in dust.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_543780\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-543780\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/upl\/2023\/07\/mars-global-dust-2018-hubble-e1776857313395.jpg\" alt=\"A red ball, almost featureless.\" width=\"800\" height=\"829\" class=\"size-full wp-image-543780\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-543780\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">In mid-July 2018, the NASA\/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observed Mars only 13 days before the planet made its closest approach to Earth. While previous images showed detailed surface features of the planet, this image is dominated by a gigantic sandstorm enshrouding the entire planet. Each Martian year, moderately large dust storms cover continent-sized areas and last for weeks at a time. Global dust storms \u2013 lasting for weeks or months \u2013 tend to happen during the spring and summer in the southern hemisphere, when Mars is closest to the sun and heating is at a maximum, leading to greater generation of winds. While spacecraft orbiting Mars can study the storm\u2019s behavior at lower altitudes, Hubble observations allow astronomers to study changes in the higher atmosphere. The combined observations will help planetary scientists build a better understanding of how these global storms arise. Image via ESA\/Hubble.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>What\u2019s happening on Mars now?<\/h3>\n<p>As of April 2026, atmospheric conditions on the Red Planet are relatively clear. <\/p>\n<p>Current Martian weather stats \u2013 formed from recent data from the Perseverance and Curiosity rovers (the only two rovers active on Mars now) indicate \u201cvery dusty conditions\u201d locally at certain craters. But these are localized events. And Mars is now entering a season where localized dust activity typically increases. <\/p>\n<p>On average, global storms happen once every 3 to 4 Mars-years. That\u2019s about every 5-and-a-half to 8 Earth-years. We haven\u2019t had a a truly huge, global Mars dust storm since 2018. <\/p>\n<p>So the \u201cwatch\u201d is officially on for Mars dust in 2026. <\/p>\n<p>And the current Martian season \u2013 summer in the southern hemisphere, officially starting on April 25, 2026 \u2013 is the primary reason for the anticipation.<\/p>\n<p>Bottom line: The summer solstice on Mars\u2019 southern hemisphere happens on April 25, 2026. At that time, the south pole of Mars is pointed most directly toward the sun. Summertime in the Mars southern hemisphere typically kicks off dust season on the Red Planet.<\/p>\n<p>Read more: Is there a North Star for Mars?<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"cp-load-after-post\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"post-author\">\n<h4>Deborah Byrd<\/h4>\n<p>                    View Articles\n                  <\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"post-tags\">\n<h6 data-udy-fe=\"text_7c58270d\">About the Author:<\/h6>\n<p>Deborah Byrd (asteroid 3505 Byrd) helps edit EarthSky.org and is a frequent host of EarthSky videos. Deborah created the EarthSky radio series in 1991 and founded EarthSky.org in 1994. Prior to that, she had worked for the University of Texas McDonald Observatory since 1976, and created and produced their Star Date radio series. She has won a galaxy of awards from the broadcasting and science communities, including having an asteroid named in her honor in 1990, a Public Service Award from the National Science Board in 2003, and the Education Prize from the American Astronomical Society in 2020. A science communicator and educator since 1976, Byrd believes in science as a force for good in the world and a vital tool for the 21st century. &#8220;Being an EarthSky editor is like hosting a big global party for cool nature-lovers,&#8221; she says.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/space\/summer-solstice-in-mars-southern-hemisphere\/?rand=772280\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Earth, nothing could feel as familiar as the passing of our seasons. And our days are steady, too \u2013 24 hours, over and over, all our lives. But not&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":801849,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-801848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-earth-sky"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=801848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/801849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=801848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=801848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=801848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}