by Kat Troche of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Right here on Earth, we bear a altering of seasons each three months. However what about the remainder of the Photo voltaic System? What does a sunny day on Mars appear like? How lengthy would a winter on Neptune be? Let’s take a tour of another planets and ask ourselves what seasons would possibly appear like there.
Though Mars and Earth have practically equivalent axial tilts, a yr on Mars lasts 687 Earth days (practically 2 Earth years) as a consequence of its common distance of 142 million miles from the Solar, making it late autumn on the purple planet. This distance and a skinny environment make it lower than excellent sweater climate. A latest climate report from Gale Crater boasted a excessive of -18 levels Fahrenheit for the week of May 20, 2025.
Saturn has a 27-degree tilt, similar to the 25-degree tilt of Mars and the 23-degree tilt of Earth. However that’s the place the similarities finish. With a 29-year orbit, a single season on the ringed planet lasts seven years. Whereas we will’t expertise a Saturnian season, we will observe a ring plane crossing right here on Earth as an alternative. The latest aircraft crossing passed off in March 2025, permitting us to see Saturn’s rings ‘disappear’ from view.
Even additional away from the Solar, every season on Neptune lasts over 40 years. Though modifications are slower and fewer dramatic than on Earth, scientists have noticed seasonal exercise in Neptune’s environment. These images have been taken between 1996 and 2002 with the Hubble Area Telescope, with brightness within the southern hemisphere indicating seasonal change.
As we welcome summer time right here on Earth, you may construct a Suntrack mannequin that helps display the trail the Solar takes by the sky in the course of the seasons. You could find much more enjoyable actions and sources like this mannequin on NASA’s Wavelength and Energy exercise.