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Seasons on other planets

Do other planets have seasons?

Yes, if they tilt. Seasons come from a lean, not from being closer to the Sun. Mars tilts about 25°, like Earth, so it has seasons — just longer, because its year is longer. Uranus tilts 98°, so each pole sits in sunlight for 42 years and then in darkness for 42. See the lean on Uranus, and Earth’s own year on the Earth–Sun–Moon orbit simulator.

Uranus lies on its side. That 98° tilt is the most extreme season in the solar system: each pole, 42 years of sun, then 42 years of night.

Tilt, not distance

Earth is closest to the Sun in January, which is northern winter. Distance is the wrong story. The axis leans, so for half the year the north end points toward the Sun and for the other half it points away. Any planet with a lean gets a version of that.

Mars’s year is about 687 Earth days, so each season lasts about twice as long as ours. Its ice caps grow and shrink. Dust storms prefer the warmer half. Uranus rolls: one pole then the other takes a 42-year polar day.

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Jupiter almost does not bother

Jupiter’s tilt is only about 3°. The Sun’s height in its sky barely changes over a year, so there is little seasonal contrast. Neptune tilts about 28°, similar to Earth, but one Neptune year is 165 of ours — a “season” there is measured in decades. The rule is the same on every world: the lean sets the pattern, the year sets the clock.

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