- Mars reaches perihelion today at 06:41am, when it is at its closest distance to the Sun: 1.38 AU.
o - An AU in astronomy is a unit of distance equal to the average distance between the Earth and the Sun, defined precisely as about 93 million miles:
o
………– Sun to Mercury about 1.5 AU (average 36 million miles)
………– Sun to Venus about 0.72 AU (around 67 million miles)
………– Sun to Earth about 1 AU (average 93 million miles)
………– Sun to Mars about 1.5 AU (average 140 million miles)
………– Sun to Jupiter about 5.2 AU (average 484 million miles)
………– Sun to Saturn about 9.6 AU (average 891 million miles)
………– Sun to Uranus about 19.2 AU (average 1.78 billion miles)
………– Sun to Neptune about 30 AU (average 2.8 billion miles)
