Mars's appearance

Sometimes, Mars's northern hemisphere is tilted toward Earth. Or its southern hemisphere is. Or Earth crosses the red planet's equatorial plane, giving us the possibility of viewing all of the planet from pole to pole, provided we can observe for enough nights to see all of its rotation. The angle of Mars, the sun, and Earth can cause Mars not to appear fully illuminated. Those times of minimum illumination are of interest to some observers.

The apparent tilt of Mars at maximum and minimum times, equatorial plane crossings, and minimum illumination for 2030 to 2039 are listed here.

Mars apparent tilt toward Earth February 6, 2020 - 15:51 Earth crosses Mars's equatorial plane southward.
June 9, 2020 - 23:16 south pole at maximum tilt (24.28°) toward Earth
September 8, 2020 - 12:20 south pole at minimum tilt (17.73°) toward Earth
December 1, 2020 - 01:59 south pole at maximum tilt (24.48°) toward Earth
April 17, 2021 - 00:05 Earth crosses Mars's equatorial plane northward.
September 6, 2021 - 04:16 north pole at maximum tilt (26.10°) toward Earth
January 15, 2022 - 21:23 Earth crosses Mars's equatorial plane southward.
May 14, 2022 - 06:35 south pole at maximum tilt (25.33°) toward Earth
October 8, 2022 - 05:28 Earth crosses Mars's equatorial plane northward.
October 24, 2022 - 14:35 north pole at maximum tilt (0.83°) toward Earth
November 9, 2022 - 01:16 Earth crosses Mars's equatorial plane southward.
January 12, 2023 - 12:28 south pole at maximum tilt (9.36°) toward Earth
March 20, 2023 - 07:51 Earth crosses Mars's equatorial plane northward.
August 19, 2023 - 10:41 north pole at maximum tilt (26.22°) toward Earth
December 27, 2023 - 18:56 Earth crosses Mars's equatorial plane southward.
April 21, 2024 - 16:44 south pole at maximum tilt (25.72°) toward Earth
August 24, 2024 - 01:49 Earth crosses Mars's equatorial plane northward.
November 27, 2024 - 16:51 north pole at maximum tilt (15.57°) toward Earth
February 19, 2025 - 02:20 north pole at minimum tilt (7.11°) toward Earth
July 30, 2025 - 16:38 north pole at maximum tilt (26.33°) toward Earth
December 8, 2025 - 04:16 Earth crosses Mars's equatorial plane southward.
April 1, 2026 - 19:02 south pole at maximum tilt (25.94°) toward Earth
August 1, 2026 - 12:19 Earth crosses Mars's equatorial plane northward.
December 19, 2026 - 04:47 north pole at maximum tilt (23.07°) toward Earth
March 20, 2027 - 10:06 north pole at minimum tilt (19.20°) toward Earth
July 9, 2027 - 10:22 north pole at maximum tilt (26.43°) toward Earth
November 19, 2027 - 08:28 Earth crosses Mars's equatorial plane southward.
March 12, 2028 - 11:15 south pole at maximum tilt (26.11°) toward Earth
July 11, 2028 - 22:00 Earth crosses Mars's equatorial plane northward.
November 30, 2028 - 00:53 north pole at maximum tilt (24.96°) toward Earth
February 20, 2029 - 16:17 north pole at minimum tilt (21.84°) toward Earth
June 11, 2029 - 17:23 north pole at maximum tilt (26.23°) toward Earth
October 29, 2029 - 11:52 Earth crosses Mars's equatorial plane southward.
February 21, 2030 - 01:19 south pole at maximum tilt (26.25°) toward Earth.
June 23, 2030 - 08:25 Earth crosses Mars's equatorial plane northward.
November 8, 2030 - 03:17 north pole at maximum tilt (25.48°) toward Earth.
March 26, 2031 - 08:48 north pole at minimum tilt (12.27°) toward Earth.
June 19, 2031 - 14:13 north pole at maximum tilt (21.15°) toward Earth.
October 6, 2031 - 14:48 Earth crosses Mars's equatorial plane southward.
January 31, 2032 - 17:58 south pole at maximum tilt (26.39°) toward Earth.
June 4, 2032 - 01:17 Earth crosses Mars's equatorial plane northward.
October 19, 2032 - 03:41 north pole at maximum tilt (25.74°) toward Earth.
March 21, 2033 - 06:18 Earth crosses Mars's equatorial plane southward.
May 16, 2033 - 15:50 south pole at maximum tilt (6.68°) toward Earth.
July 9, 2033 - 06:06 Earth crosses Mars's equatorial plane northward.
July 30, 2033 - 15:57 north pole at maximum tilt (1.69°) toward Earth.
August 21, 2033 - 17:29 Earth crosses Mars's equatorial plane southward.
January 7, 2034 - 17:47 south pole at maximum tilt (26.51°) toward Earth.
May 16, 2034 - 10:01 Earth crosses Mars's equatorial plane northward.
October 1, 2034 - 08:43 north pole at maximum tilt (25.92°) toward Earth.
February 15, 2035 - 20:00 Earth crosses Mars's equatorial plane southward.
June 23, 2035 - 17:41 south pole at maximum tilt (22.99°) toward Earth.
August 27, 2035 - 17:12 south pole at minimum tilt (20.83°) toward Earth.
December 6, 2035 - 18:49 south pole at maximum tilt (26.21°) toward Earth.
April 25, 2036 - 12:33 Earth crosses Mars's equatorial plane northward.
September 12, 2036 - 23:17 north pole at maximum tilt (26.06°) toward Earth.
January 23, 2037 - 16:35 Earth crosses Mars's equatorial plane southward.
May 23, 2037 - 17:21 south pole at maximum tilt (25.07°) toward Earth.
October 8, 2037 - 00:23 south pole at minimum tilt (6.57°) toward Earth.
December 25, 2037 - 23:38 south pole at maximum tilt (16.19°) toward Earth.
April 1, 2038 - 17:22 Earth crosses Mars's equatorial plane northward.
August 26, 2038 - 10:19 north pole at maximum tilt (26.18°) toward Earth.
January 4, 2039 - 04:06 Earth crosses Mars's equatorial plane southward.
April 30, 2039 - 20:14 south pole at maximum tilt (25.60°) toward Earth.
September 5, 2039 - 03:11 Earth crosses Mars's equatorial plane northward.
November 16, 2039 - 04:04 north pole at maximum tilt (10.67°) toward Earth.
Mars minimum illumination June 21, 2020 - 23:12 (84.36%)
January 22, 2021 - 15:13 (88.51%)
August 10, 2022 - 08:59 (84.68%)
March 14, 2023 - 21:01 (89.73%)
September 26, 2024 - 16:28 (87.46%)
April 24, 2025 - 14:22 (89.87%)
November 10, 2026 - 00:54 (89.43%)
June 3, 2027 - 08:35 (89.16%)
December 18, 2028 - 15:31 (90.29%)
July 14, 2029 - 22:19 (87.56%)
January 28, 2031 - 05:49 (90.18%)
August 30, 2031 - 20:57 (85.30%)
March 18, 2033 - 08:20 (88.86%)
October 20, 2033 - 15:58 (84.81%)
May 27, 2035 - 13:07 (85.64%)
December 29, 2035 - 20:01 (87.60%)
July 23, 2037 - 13:58 (83.97%)
February 24, 2038 - 15:44 (89.41%)
September 8, 2039 - 17:25 (86.38%)