What the "Happy New Year, Mars!" Item on Astronomy Now Refers To

Updated

The item is a short teaser on Astronomy Now's homepage for a Mars milestone: it marks a "new year" on Mars and gives the date 29 September 2026. The visible excerpt reads "Happy New Year, Mars! The Red Planet is turning 39 29 September 2026." The homepage only carries this headline and date; the full astronomical explanation sits in the linked article, so treat the teaser as a pointer rather than a complete answer.

What the teaser is telling you

  • "New Year" on Mars is a calendar event, not a physical change on the planet. Mars has its own year count, and the item is flagging the start of a new one.
  • "Turning 39" refers to that Mars year number — the count is at 39, not the planet's age in Earth years.
  • 29 September 2026 is the date attached to the milestone in the teaser.

The excerpt does not explain how the Mars year count is defined or why that particular date is used. For that, follow the link from the homepage item to the full article.

How to read it correctly

  1. Open the item on astronomynow.com and read the full piece rather than relying on the homepage line.
  2. Expect the article to explain the Mars calendar convention and the date calculation.
  3. Don't read "turning 39" as an age in Earth years — it is a year count on the Martian calendar.

Where this fits in Astronomy Now's coverage

Astronomy Now is a UK stargazing magazine, and this kind of dated sky-event item is the sort of content it publishes for observers. If you want the observing context — what to look for and when — the full article is the place to get it; the homepage teaser alone won't give you the explanation.