Mars goes retrograde once every 25.1 to 26.6 months, for 60 to 81 days at a time, centered on opposition, when it is near its closest to the Earth. The calendar gives every Mars station from 2025 to 2035 to the minute, with the shadow dates and how near Mars comes each time.
Updated
Mars is in its pre-shadow
Stations retrograde at 10.4° Virgo on , in 62 days.
The pre-shadow began November 5, 2026 (UTC), when Mars first reached 20.9° Leo, the degree where it will turn direct.
2026 Has No Mars Retrograde: The Next One
Mars moves direct through all of 2026. It last stationed direct on February 24, 2025, at 02:00 UTC. The next retrograde starts at 10.4° Virgo on January 10, 2027, at 12:59 UTC and runs 81 days; the card below has the details.
Station times in UTC
NextVirgo → Leo
to
81 days · 19.5° of backward motion
Station retrograde
10.4° Virgo
Station direct
20.9° Leo
Shadow (UTC dates)
Pre-shadow fromNovember 5, 2026
Post-shadow untilJune 8, 2027
66 days before, 68 days after
Opposition to the Sun
0°46′ Virgo · 0.678 AU from Earth
Retrograde in Virgo
In Mercury's earth sign Virgo, retrograde Mars grinds through work and health: the training plan that stopped working, the job with too many fixes. Strip routines back, mend what is broken, and let an injury heal before the next push.
Why Mars Retrogrades Run From 81 Days Down to 60
The Earth overtakes Mars once every 765 to 810 days in this table, 25.1 to 26.6 months, so roughly every other calendar year goes by without a Mars retrograde. In this table 2026, 2028, 2030, 2032 and 2034 have none at all.
Mars retrogrades also vary in length more than any other planet's here, by 21 days. Mars's distance from the Sun swings between 1.38 and 1.67 AU, and where on that orbit the Earth catches it sets the length of the retrograde. The 2027 opposition falls 13 days before aphelion: at opposition Mars is still 0.68 AU away, and the retrograde lasts 81 days over 19.5°. The 2035 opposition falls 25 days after perihelion: Mars is 0.38 AU (57 million km) away at opposition, shines at magnitude −2.9, and the retrograde lasts only 60 days over 10.6°.
Each Mars retrograde: opposition, distance, length and arc
Opposition (UTC)
Distance
Magnitude
Retrograde
Arc
Nearest turning point
26°12′ Cancer
0.644 AU
96 million km
−1.4
79 d
19.2°
aphelion, 91 d after opposition
0°46′ Virgo
0.678 AU
101 million km
−1.3
81 d
19.5°
aphelion, 13 d after opposition
4°57′ Libra
0.649 AU
97 million km
−1.4
80 d
19.0°
aphelion, 64 d before opposition
13°50′ Scorpio
0.559 AU
84 million km
−1.9
76 d
17.2°
aphelion, 148 d before opposition
6°41′ Capricorn
0.427 AU
64 million km
−2.6
66 d
12.7°
perihelion, 97 d after opposition
22°48′ Pisces
0.382 AU
57 million km
−2.9
60 d
10.6°
perihelion, 25 d before opposition
Mars Retrograde in the Sky and in the Chart
Mars takes 687 days to orbit the Sun. The Earth, on the faster inside track, laps it about every 26 months, and the retrograde is the part of that overtaking when Mars appears to move backward against the stars. Opposition, when the Sun, the Earth and Mars line up, falls near the middle: Mars rises at sunset, sets at sunrise and shines at its brightest.
Mars also lingers at its stations. For 9.7 to 10.5 days around each one, its longitude stays less than a sixth of a degree from the turning point, a week and a half in which the planet barely seems to move.
Tradition gives Mars two homes, Aries and Scorpio, and an exaltation in Capricorn; it is weakest in Libra and Taurus, the signs opposite its homes, and in Cancer, its fall. Its significations are force and the things that cut, burn or compete: fevers and surgery in medical astrology, soldiers and rivals, heat, iron, haste and anger. Retrograde, the reading is effort that comes back on itself. A campaign stalls, a quarrel reopens, a job has to be done again.
Because the retrograde comes around only every other year or so, astrologers treat Mars retrograde years as markers. An election made while Mars is retrograde is avoided for anything that depends on speed, force or a decisive first move.
Mars Retrograde Dates, 2025 Through 2035
Six Mars retrogrades touch the years 2025 to 2035, counting the one already under way when 2025 began. Each runs 60 to 81 days; added up, they cover 10.4% of those eleven years.
The stations come from a zero-speed search of the ephemeris, timed to the minute, and the oppositions from the same calculations. For the shadow convention, see the About page. Shadow dates are UTC.
Station times in UTC
Retrogrades, 2025–2035
6
4 span two signs
Average length
73.7 days
60 to 81 days
Time spent retrograde
10.4%
of 2025–2035
Shadow, before / after
59 / 58 days
43–66 / 44–68
Every Mars retrograde from 2025 to 2035: station times, station degrees, length and shadow dates
Year
Stations retrograde (UTC)
Stations direct (UTC)
Days
Shadow (UTC dates)
20241×
6.2° Leo
17.0° Cancer
79
Oct 5, 2024 to May 2, 2025
20271×
Next
10.4° Virgo
20.9° Leo
81
Nov 5, 2026 to Jun 8, 2027
20291×
13.9° Libra
24.9° Virgo
80
Dec 10, 2028 to Jul 9, 2029
20311×
21.6° Scorpio
4.4° Scorpio
76
Jan 25, 2031 to Aug 10, 2031
20331×
12.5° Capricorn
29.8° Sagittarius
66
Apr 5, 2033 to Sep 16, 2033
20351×
28.4° Pisces
17.8° Pisces
60
Jul 3, 2035 to Nov 28, 2035
Mars retrograde by calendar year
Year
Retrogrades begin
Days retrograde
Share of the year
2025
0
54.1
14.8%
2026
0
0.0
0.0%
2027
1
81.0
22.2%
2028
0
0.0
0.0%
2029
1
80.4
22.0%
2030
0
0.0
0.0%
2031
1
76.5
21.0%
2032
0
0.0
0.0%
2033
1
66.6
18.2%
2034
0
0.0
0.0%
2035
1
60.9
16.7%
Mars Retrograde: What to Push and What to Pause
✅ Worth doing while Mars is retrograde
•Rebuild a training plan around recovery, mobility and technique rather than new personal records.
•Repair tools, cars and machinery that have been running on borrowed time.
•Settle an old dispute; the people involved are usually easier to reach than new opponents.
•Rework the strategy for a campaign, bid or lawsuit, then act after the station direct.
•Finish physical projects already started: a renovation, a garden, a move already booked.
⚠️ Usually deferred
•Picking a fight, filing a new lawsuit or launching a hostile bid.
•Elective surgery when the date is flexible, since Mars signifies cutting in medical astrology. Medical advice comes first.
•Buying a car, motorcycle or power tools on impulse.
•Starting a business whose whole plan depends on speed to market.
The Long Mars Shadow
Mars moves so slowly around its stations that its shadow is long. Mars needs 43 to 66 days to cover the pre-shadow and 44 to 68 to clear the post-shadow, so from the first crossing to the last a Mars retrograde occupies 148 to 215 days, 4.9 to 7.1 months.
The loop shrinks along with the retrograde. In 2027, with Mars far away, it lasts 215 days; in 2035, with Mars near, 148.
Natal Mars Retrograde
Mars is retrograde 10.4% of the 2025–2035 span, so roughly one birth in ten has it. Those births come in clusters: 9 to 12 weeks of them about every two years, then none.
Astrologers read a retrograde Mars as drive that is worked out internally before it shows: anger that is slow to rise and slow to fade, physical confidence built through practice, and a preference for strategy over a frontal attack.
About 62 days from when this page was generated. Mars stations retrograde at 10.4° Virgo on January 10, 2027, at 12:59 UTC, with the pre-shadow starting on November 5, 2026.
Which years have no Mars retrograde?▼
Between 2025 and 2035: 2026, 2028, 2030, 2032 and 2034. Mars retrogrades once every 25.1 to 26.6 months, so roughly every other calendar year has none.
Why are some Mars retrogrades much shorter than others?▼
Because Mars's orbit is markedly elliptical. When the Earth overtakes Mars near Mars's aphelion, as in 2027, the retrograde runs 81 days; near perihelion, as in 2035, it runs 60 days and covers fewer degrees, even though Mars is much closer to us.
When is Mars closest to Earth during its next retrograde?▼
At opposition, on February 19, 2027, at 15:51 UTC, when Mars is 0.678 AU (about 101 million km) away and shines at magnitude −1.3. The retrograde around it runs from January 10, 2027 to April 1, 2027.
Is Mars retrograde a bad time for surgery?▼
Traditional electional astrology avoids choosing elective surgery while Mars, the planet of cutting and fevers, is retrograde, and some practitioners also avoid the days around each station. That is a preference for flexible dates only: medical need and your doctor's advice always come first.