Transit of Mars from Neptune

A [[Astronomical transit|transit]] '''of''' [[Mars]] '''across the''' [[Sun]] '''as seen from''' [[Neptune]] takes place when the planet Mars passes directly between the Sun and Neptune, obscuring a small part of the Sun's disc for an observer on Neptune. During a transit, Mars can be seen from Neptune as a small black disc moving across the face of the Sun.

Naturally, no one has ever seen a transit of Mars from Neptune, nor is this likely to happen in the foreseeable future. Nevertheless, the next one will take place on [[May 6]], [[2026]] and on [[June 11]], [[2024]] there will be a close miss by Mars.

A transit could be observed from the surface of one of Neptune's moons rather than from Neptune itself. The times and circumstances of the transits would naturally be slightly different.

The Mars-Neptune [[synodic period]] is 694.911 days. It can be calculated using the formula 1/(1/P-1/Q), where P is the [[sidereal orbital period]] of Mars (686.98 days) and Q is the [[orbital period]] of Neptune (60,190 days).

<!--space.jpl.nasa.gov only works from 1990 to 2025. Links within that period have been edited to work with the current version; others are left alone.-->
{| border cellspacing=0 cellpadding=5 align="center"
! Transits of Mars from Neptune
|-
| [[September 19]], [[1862]]
|-
| [[September 8]], [[1942]]
|-
| [[August 4]], [[1944]]
|-
| [[May 6]], [[2026]]
|-
| [[March 29]], [[2028]]
|-
| [[March 18]], [[2108]]
|-
| [[December 20]], [[2189]]
|}

==Transit visibility table==
==See also==
* [[Astronomical transit]]

{{transit visibility table}}

==External links==
* [http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/?HORIZONS JPL Horizons]

{{Neptune}}
[[Category:Astronomical transits]]
[[Category:Neptune]]