When Planets Align: Closest Jupiter-Mars Conjunction until 2033

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Two Planets Meet in the Pre-Dawn Sky

Mars is heading toward a rendezvous with Jupiter.

The two planets are getting closer and closer to each other in the early morning sky. On August 14, 2024, reddish Mars will pass bright Jupiter in an event known as a conjunction.

To see the two planets together, look toward the eastern half of the sky. Mars and Jupiter will rise around the same time in the middle of the night, and climb slowly into the sky before fading from view as dawn breaks.

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A Slow and Close Approach

Skywatchers will see the conjunction play out over a number of days. As August begins, Mars is already close to Jupiter. From one morning to the next, bit by bit, Mars will edge nearer and nearer.

For most observers in North and South America, Europe, and Africa, the two planets will appear closest on the morning of August 14. For most of Asia and Australia, the planetary pair will look nearest to each other on the morning of August 15.

At their closest approach, Mars and Jupiter will be separated by a distance of around 0.3 degrees. How close is that? It’s less than the width of a Full Moon in the sky, which is about 0.5 degrees.

Measuring distances in the sky

We won’t see Mars get this close to Jupiter again until December 1, 2033.

An Illusion of Coming Together

Although Jupiter and Mars will appear to almost touch, they will be separated by an enormous distance in space.

Mars is one of the solar system’s inner planets—the four small, rocky bodies (including Earth) that orbit relatively close to the Sun. Jupiter, meanwhile, is an outer planet; it’s a giant planet consisting mostly of gas, and is roughly 3.5 times farther from the Sun than Mars.

Check the real-time distances and apparent sizes of the planets

The reason they will appear so close is a trick of perspective. As the illustration at the top of this page shows, there will be a temporary alignment of Earth, Mars, and Jupiter. As a result, from our Earthbound line of sight, Mars and Jupiter will appear to be in the same place.

Our illustration at the top of the page looks down on the solar system from above the North Pole. From this viewpoint, the planets orbit the Sun in a counterclockwise direction. The relative distances of the planets from the Sun in our diagram are correct, but the sizes of the Sun and planets are not.

What Exactly Does “Conjunction” Mean?

Generally speaking, the word conjunction refers to a close approach between two celestial objects.

Strictly speaking, however, a conjunction is the moment when two celestial objects have the same east-west position in the sky.

Astronomers have a number of systems for giving the positions of objects in the sky, similar to how positions on Earth can be given by longitude (an east-west coordinate) and latitude (a north-south coordinate). One of these is the equatorial coordinate system, where the east-west coordinate is called right ascension.

On August 14, 2024, Mars and Jupiter will have the same right ascension—and therefore be at conjunction—at around 16:50 UTC. At this time, the distance between the two planets will be 0.309 degrees.

UTC: the world’s time standard

The moment of conjunction is not quite the same as the moment of closest approach. Overall, the smallest distance between Mars and Jupiter on August 14 will be 0.306 degrees: this will occur around 14:53 UTC.

Planetary data calculated by timeanddate.com using JPL DE431.