The upper chart shows the path of Mars across the background stars over the course of the year. Stars to magnitude +4.5 are shown with some fainter objects included to complete constellation patterns. The white circles represent the planet on the first day of the month and are scaled according to apparent magnitude. The faint paths before the first circle and after the last circle represent the planet's positions in December of last year and January of next. In general, the planet moves from right to left except when it's in retrograde and proceding in the opposite direction.
The lower chart shows how the appearance of Mars changes over the year. Below each image is listed the date, the apparent magnitude, the apparent diameter of the disk (in arc-seconds), the geocentric distance (in au) and the percentage of the disk which is illuminated. Note that Mars appears distinctly gibbous near the times of quadrature.
An excellent opposition year is inevitably followed by a poor conjunction year and that is the case in 2019. Mars underwent a very favourable opposition in 2018 so it remains rather distant and dim for the entire year this year. It makes a direct path across the background stars, beginning in Pisces and ending in Libra. Near zero magnitude in January, it eventually dims to second magnitude before recovering slightly by the end of the year. An evening sky object for much of the year, it disappears from view around August as it closes in on the Sun and undergoes conjunction in September. Afterwards the red planet reappears in the morning sky where it remains for the rest of the year.
| 15 January | ascending node |
| 13 February | Pisces → Aries |
| 1.0° north of Uranus | |
| 23 March | Aries → Taurus |
| 23 March | equinox: spring in the northern hemisphere and autumn in the southern hemisphere |
| 16 May | Taurus → Gemini |
| maximum declination north | |
| 05 June | 1.6° north of the Moon |
| 18 June | planetary conjunction: 0.2° south of Mercury |
| 28 June | Gemini → Cancer |
| 04 July | lunar occulation: 0.1° north of the Moon |
| 08 July | planetary conjunction: 4.1° north of Mercury |
| 13 July | 0.4° south of the open star cluster M44 (known as Praesepe or the Beehive Cluster) |
| 30 July | Cancer → Leo |
| 01 August | 1.7° south of the Moon |
| 24 August | planetary conjunction: 0.3° south of Venus |
| 26 August | aphelion |
| 02 September | conjunction |
| 03 September | planetary conjunction: 0.6° south of Mercury |
| 24 September | Leo → Virgo |
| 08 October | solstice: summer in the northern hemisphere and winter in the southern hemisphere |
| 01 December | Virgo → Libra |
| 31 December | maximum declination south |
