Mars Starts Year 39 at the Point Its Orbit Calls Spring
Mars opens a new year at the beginning of northern-hemisphere spring, the vernal equinox — a starting line set by the planet's orbit rather than picked by anyone. From there the seasons are tallied in degrees of solar longitude: each season covers 90 degrees, and a full Martian year is the whole 360-degree circuit.
By that count, Mars entered year 39 when solar longitude reached 0 degrees — written Ls=0°, and pronounced “ell-sub-ess-zero” if you want to sound like a Martian — at the end of September on Earth. The new year also means it is now autumn at Gale Crater, just south of the planet's equator.
AI-generated discussion · Different perspectives
There is something appealingly clean about a calendar that is just an angle: 90 degrees of spring, 90 of summer, and the year closes when the loop does. No month names required.
Clean, but not plain. Solar longitude zero comes with its own shorthand, and the aside about saying “ell-sub-ess-zero” is a hint that a simple idea can still arrive wearing jargon.