The upper chart shows the path of Mars across the background stars over the course of the year. Stars to magnitude +4.5 are shown with some fainter objects included to complete constellation patterns. The white circles represent the planet on the first day of the month and are scaled according to apparent magnitude. The faint paths before the first circle and after the last circle represent the planet's positions in December of last year and January of next. In general, the planet moves from right to left except when it's in retrograde and proceding in the opposite direction.
The lower chart shows how the appearance of Mars changes over the year. Below each image is listed the date, the apparent magnitude, the apparent diameter of the disk (in arc-seconds), the geocentric distance (in au) and the percentage of the disk which is illuminated. Note that Mars appears distinctly gibbous near the times of quadrature.
The red planet is visible in the evening skies for nearly the entire year. At conjunction in November, it just appears in dawn skies in December. Moving through the familiar backdrop of Taurus for the first three months of 2023, Mars then tours the zodiacal constellations (and Ophiuchus), ending with Sagittarius. Mars is also occulted by the Moon a number of times this year.
| January | |
|---|---|
| 2 | 1.7° north of the fourth-magnitude star υ Tauri |
| 3 | lunar occultation: 0.5° north of the Moon (visible from southern Africa and Madagascar) |
| 4 | 2.2° north of the fourth-magnitude star κ¹ Tauri |
| 12 | stationary in right ascension: direct → direct |
| stationary in ecliptic longitude: direct → direct | |
| 22 | 2.2° north of the fourth-magnitude star κ¹ Tauri |
| 23 | 1.7° north of the fourth-magnitude star υ Tauri |
| 31 | lunar occultation: 0.1° north of the Moon (visible from the southern United States, Mexico, Central America and northern South America) |
| February | |
| 9 | 1.9° north of the fourth-magnitude star τ Tauri |
| 28 | lunar occultation: 1.1° south of the Moon (visible from northern Scandinavia, Iceland and the Arctic) |
| March | |
| 16 | east quadrature |
| 19 | maximum declination north: +25.60° |
| 26 | Taurus → Gemini |
| 28 | 2.3° south of the Moon |
| 1.2° north of the open cluster M35 | |
| April | |
| 14 | 0.2° north of the third-magnitude star ε Geminorum (Mebsuta) |
| 26 | 3.2° south of the Moon |
| 30 | 1.9° north of the fourth-magnitude star δ Geminorum (Wasat) |
| May | |
| 10 | 1.4° south of the fourth-magnitude star κ Geminorum |
| 24 | 3.8° south of the Moon |
| 26 | Gemini → Cancer |
| 30 | aphelion: 1.666 au |
| June | |
| 2 | 0.1° north of the open cluster M44 (Praesepe) |
| 5 | 1.3° north of the fourth-magnitude star δ Cancri (Asellus Australis) |
| 20 | Cancer → Leo |
| 22 | 3.8° south of the Moon |
| July | |
| 10 | 0.6° north of the first-magnitude star α Leonis (Regulus) |
| 11 | 2.5° north of the fourth-magnitude star 31 Leonis |
| 12 | solstice: summer in the northern hemisphere and winter in the southern hemisphere |
| 21 | 3.3° south of the Moon |
| 21 | 0.9° north of the fourth-magnitude star ρ Leonis |
| August | |
| 10 | 0.9° south of the fourth-magnitude star σ Leonis |
| 17 | Leo → Virgo |
| 19 | 2.2° south of the Moon |
| 23 | 0.02° north of the fourth-magnitude star β Virginis (Zavijava) |
| September | |
| 4 | 0.8° south of the fourth-magnitude star η Virginis (Zaniah) |
| 12 | 2.3° south of the third-magnitude star γ Virginis (Porrima) |
| 16 | lunar occultation: 0.7° south of the Moon (visible from northern South America) |
| 22 | 2.2° south of the fourth-magnitude star θ Virginis |
| October | |
| 3 | 2.4° north of the first-magnitude star α Virginis (Spica) |
| 15 | lunar occultation: 1.0° north of the Moon (daytime event) |
| 19 | 2.7° south of the fourth-magnitude star κ Virginis (Kang) |
| 24 | Virgo → Libra |
| 29 | planetary conjunction: 0.3° south of Mercury |
| November | |
| 3 | 0.3° south of third-magnitude star α² Librae (Zubenelgenubi) |
| 6 | descending node |
| 13 | 2.5° north of the Moon |
| 18 | conjunction: anti-transit (see below) |
| 25 | Libra → Scorpius |
| 28 | 1.8° north of the second-magnitude star δ Scorpii (Dschubba) |
| 29 | 1.2° south of the third-magnitude star β Scorpii (Acrab) |
| 30 | 0.4° south of the fourth-magnitude star ω¹ Scorpii |
| 0.3° south of the fourth-magnitude star ω² Scorpii | |
| December | |
| 1 | 1.9° south of the fourth-magnitude star ν Scorpii (Jabbah) |
| 5 | 1.8° south of the fourth-magnitude star ψ Ophiuchi |
| Scorpius → Ophiuchus | |
| 8 | 0.7° south of the fourth-magnitude star ω Ophiuchi |
| 12 | 3.6° north of the Moon |
| 23 | 2.5° south of the fourth-magnitude star ξ Ophiuchi |
| 24 | 1.4° south of the third-magnitude star θ Ophiuchi |
| 25 | 0.5° north of the fourth-magnitude star 44 Ophiuchi |
| 28 | planetary conjunction: 3.6° north of Mercury |
| 31 | Ophiuchus → Sagittarius |
| maximum declination south: −23.95° | |
Because the orbits of the planets are tilted slightly to the plane of the eclipt ic, a planet normally passes to the north or the south of the Sun at conjunction. However, if the planet is near a node (the place in the orbit where the planet crosses the ecliptic) when it reaches conjunction, the planet may appear to cross in front of or behind the disk of the Sun. This situation occurs in November when Mars actually passes behind the Sun from the vantage point of Earth. This type of conjunction is sometimes called an anti-transit or secondary eclipse.
