2. • Mars is the fourth planet from the sun.
• Mars is the seventh largest planet in our solar system.
• Mars is referred to as the Red Planet, due to its red soil made up of iron oxide,
more commonly known as rust.
• Mars is named after the Roman god of war.
• The equatorial radius of Mars is 3,397 km.
• The diameter of Mars measures 6,794 km.
• The mass of Mars is 641,850,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg.
• Surface temperature on Mars can range from the maximum of 310 K to a
minimum of 150 K.
• Atmospheric components on Mars consists of 95% carbon dioxide, 3% nitrogen,
1.6% argon
• Average Surface Temperature:-53º C
• Average Distance from Sun:2.279 x 108 km
• Average Density:3934 kg/m3
3. • Recently, scientists discovered enough water ice just under the surface of Mars to
fill
lake Michigan twice.
• Due to its dry and dusty surface, dust storms have been known to cover the whole
planet at times.
• Mars is home to Olympus Mons, perhaps one of the largest volcanoes in our solar
system. Olympus Mons is three times taller than Mount Everest and as wide as the
state of New Mexico.
• Valles Marineris is a canyon on Mars that is about as long as the United States of
America is wide.
4. •Mars is further away from the sun than Earth. Mars’ average distance from the sun
is142 million miles while Earth’s average distance from the sun is only 93 million
miles.
•Mars is slower to orbit the sun, traveling at a speed of 14.5 miles per second versus
Earth’s 18.5 miles per second.
•The temperature on Mars is much colder than Earth. The average Mars temperature
is –87 degrees F with Earth’s average temperature being 57 degrees F.
•A year on Mars (i.e. how long it takes for Mars to orbit around the sun) is 687
Earth days, versus Earth’s 365 days per year while a day on Mars is equivalent to
1.026 Earth days.
5. The Mars Global Surveyor photographed a dust-devil on the surface. A dust-devil is like a
mini-tornado without the associated storm patterns.
6. The Mars Pathfinder took this photograph of a Martian sunset. Even though the atmosphere is thin,
refraction of light and reflective atmospheric particles are still present enough to give the sunset a nice color.
The red an blue colors would not be present if Mars had no atmosphere.
7. The image above shows Olympus Mons in comparison to the Hawaiian Islands (in red). This volcano is
the largest in the Solar System.
This type of volcano is called a shield volcano and forms not by tectonics but by upward pressure from
the mantle. Because plate tectonics is absent from Mars, these volcanoes are free to grow to very
large diameters.
8. The above Hubble image demonstrates a dust storm on a global
scale. These storms can last several months.
9. Polar Caps - Spring Polar Caps - Summer Polar Caps - Winter
The seasons on Mars are similar to that onEarth in that there is a defined spring, summer, autumn, and
winter. This is evident by the changing appearance of the polar caps (above)..
The carbon dioxide is transferred to the atmosphere during seasonal changes. Just like Earth, there is a
Northern Polar Cap and a Southern Polar Cap.
The Northern Polar Cap is mostly water with carbon dioxide on the outer rims.
The Southern Polar Cap is mostly carbon dioxide with water underneath.