How far is the Earth from Mar?

Answer 1

As both Mars and Earth orbit the Sun (at different speeds) and both have slightly elliptical orbits this is not an easy question to answer because at some point Earth and Mars will be on opposite sides of the Sun and therefore very far apart while at other points they will both be on the same side of the Sun and therefore much closer together.

On average Mars orbits the Sun at a distance of 227,939,100 km

On average the Earth orbits the Sun at a distance of 149,597,888 km

Thus the distance between their "average" orbital paths is 78,341,212 Km. However, they would actually only be this distance from one another on rare occasions. Depending on where they are in their respective orbits, they can be anywhere from 36 million miles to over 250 million miles apart.

Answer 2

found on http://quest.arc.NASA.gov/mars/ask/orbit/distance_between_earth_and_mars.txt

ANSWER from Bruce Jakosky on May 13, 1997:

Mars is about 1.5 times as far from the Sun as is the Earth. Because

Earth and Mars take different periods of time to orbit the Sun (365.25

days for the Earth, and 686 days for Mars), the distance between Earth

and Mars varies. At their closest they are about 100 million km apart,

while at their most distant they are about 380 million km apart.

Answer 3

As both Mars and Earth orbit the Sun (at different speeds) and both have slightly elliptical orbits this is not an easy question to answer because at some point Earth and Mars will be on opposite sides of the Sun and therefore very far apart while at other points they will both be on the same side of the Sun and therefore much closer together.

On average Mars orbits the Sun at a distance of 227,939,100 km

On average the Earth orbits the Sun at a distance of 149,597,888 km

Thus the distance between their "average" orbital paths is 78,341,212 Km. However, they would actually only be this distance from one another on rare occasions.

Depending on where they are in their respective orbits, they can be anywhere from 36 million miles to over 250 million miles apart.