MARS THE RED PLANET

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Our neighbor, Mars (a mere 56,000,000 km from Earth), gets its name from either the Greek or Roman god of war. The symbol stands for a shield and a spear and also the male gender.

Mars probably gets its nickname, The Red Planet from the iron oxide in its soil.

It is not known who first saw Mars since the planet is very bright and can be spotted easily from Earth. We do know, that Mars has been around for as long as astronomy has.

Sun Mars4th planet from

the sun

227,900 km

IMPORTANT MEASUREMENTS:Mass: 6.4219e23 kgVolume: 163,115,609,799 kn3Density: 3.934g/cm^3 (100 times less dense than Earth)Gravity: equatorial surface gravity of 3.71 m/s^2 with an escape velocity of 18,108 km/hWhat happens in water? The planet will sink because its density is higher than 1.

It takes 1,881 Earth years for Mars to orbit the sun.

It takes 1,026 Earth days for Mars to rotate around its own axis.

Mars has a thin atmosphere.

It is 95.32% carbon dioxide 2.7% nitrogen 1.6% argon .13% oxygen .08% carbon monoxide

Mars is much colder than Earth because it is further away from the sun.

The average temperature is -80 degrees F, but it can get as cold as -195 degrees F near the poles in the winter and 70 degrees F at midday near the equator.

Compare with Florida’s average temperatures!!!!

Daytona 70.4Ft Lauderdale 75.2 Ft Myers 74.4Jacksonville 68.5Key West 77.8

Miami 75.9Orlando 72.6Pensacola 67.7Tallahassee 67.1Tampa Bay 72.2West Palm Beach 74.8

WEATHERDust storms on Mars are a common occurrence and are the largest in the whole solar system.

Did you know that it has snowed on Mars? The Martian snow flakes are made of of carbon dioxide rather than water.

Even though there is so little water in the atmosphere, there is 100% humidity on Mars at night!

Mars is a rocky planet.

It’s surface is made of a thick layer of dust and rocks that has been oxidized.

The internal composition is most likely solid and made up of sulfur, nickel and iron. The core doesn’t move which means that Mars does not have a magnetic field. Without a magnetic field, there is a high level of radiation on the planet making it a hostile environment for human life.

Mars has an elliptical, oval shaped orbit.

An astronaut visiting Mars is likely to see volcanoes and craters. Like Earth, there are ice caps at the north and south poles.

No rings

Two moonsTheir names are Phobos and Deimos. They were discovered in 1877. They are both made of carbon-rich rock mixed with ice. They are covered with dust and loose rocks. Next to Earth’s moon, they are tiny. Because they do not have enough gravity to pull them into circular forms, they are irregularly shaped.

There is currently no liquid water on Mars, just water ice.

OTHER INTERESTING FACTS

On Mars, you would be able to jump three times as high as you could on Earth.

The first spacecraft arrived on Mars on 1965.

Mars has the highest mountains and the deepest, longest valleys in the solar system.

There is a possibility that the volcanoes on Mars may erupt.

Pieces of Mars have fallen to Earth.

The month of March is named after Mars.

If you were driving a car to Mars from Earth going 60 mph, it would take almost 272 years to to your destination.

The pressure of Mars is too low for humans to survive. Without a special spacesuit, the oxygen in your blood would be destroyed.