What can be so special about a planet’s orbit? Well, three things, to be precise!
Firstly, the eccentricity. Like all planets, Mars’ orbit is elliptical (or elongated), with the Sun located to one side of the ellipse. At its perihelion (point in its trajectory where the planet is closest to the Sun), Mars and the Sun are separated by 206.6 million kilometres. But at its aphelion (the point where it is farthest away from the Sun), this distance increases to 249.2 million kilometres – quite a large leap! This is because of the extreme eccentricity of the Martian orbit, second only to Mercury’s when compared to those of other planets in our solar system!
Secondly, the Martian orbit may not have always been this ‘eccentric!’ Looking at evidence, scientists say that there was a time in the Red Planet’s history when it used to follow a near-circular path around the Sun, similar to the Earth’s. The gravitational pull from the giant planets gradually gave the movement its current shape. Thirdly, it is the only terrestrial planet in our solar system to take more time than the Earth to complete a full orbit. A Martian year is 687-days long, nearly twice as long as a year on Earth. But this probably comes as no surprise as the average distance between Mars and the Sun is 1.5 times that between the Earth and the Sun!
Picture Credit : Google
