Interesting Facts about Planet Mars

Mars is the fourth planet in the solar system at a distance from the Sun and the seventh in size and mass. It appears periodically in the night sky as a clear red colored object.

Sometimes called the red planet, It is named for the god of Roman warfare.



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1. Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the last of the terrestrial planets and about 227,940,000 km away from the Sun.

1. The planet is named after Mars, the Roman god of war. It was known to the ancient Greeks as Ares, their god of war. This is believed to be due to the blood-red color of the planet which was also used by other ancient cultures. Chinese astronomers called Mars a fire star.

1. Mars and Earth have almost the same landmass.

1. Even though Mars has only 15% of the Earth's surface and only 10% of the Earth's mass, about two-thirds of the Earth's surface is covered in water. The gravity of the surface of Mars is only 37% of that of the Earth (meaning you can jump nearly three times as high on Mars).

1. Mars is home to the highest mountain in the Solar System. Olympus Mons, a gradient volcano, is 21 km high and 600 km in diameter. Despite being formed over billions of years, evidence for volcanic lava flows has led many recent scientists to believe that it may still be active.

1. Of the 39 missions to Mars, only 16 have been successful. Beginning with the USSR's Marsnik 1 which was launched in 1960, 39 orbiters, landers and rovers have arrived on Mars, but only 16 of those missions have been successful. In 2016, Europe's Exobiology on Mars program will explore Mars for signs of life, as well as study the planet's surface and terrain and potential environmental hazards for future manned missions.
   
   
   
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2. Fragments of Mars have been found on Earth. It is believed that trace amounts of Mars' atmosphere were within the meteorite that the planet ejected. These meteorites then circled the solar system for millions of years among other objects and solar debris before entering the Earth's atmosphere and crashing to the ground. The study of this material has allowed scientists to find out more about Mars before embarking on a space mission.

1. Mars was once considered the home of intelligent life. It came from the discovery of lines or grooves in the surface called Canali by Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli. They believed that these were not naturally and were evidence of intelligent life. However, these were later shown to be an optical illusion.

1. The tallest mountain known in the solar system is on Mars. Olympus Mons, a 21 km high and 600 km diameter gradient volcano that formed billions of years ago. Scientists have found recent evidence of volcanic lava suggesting that Olympus Mons may still be active. It is the second highest mountain in the entire solar system, topped only by the Central Peak of Resilvia on the Asteroid Vesta, which is 22 km high.

1. There are heavy dust storms on Mars which are the largest in our solar system. This is due to the elliptical shape of the planet's orbit path around the Sun. The orbit path is more wide than other planets and this oval shaped orbit encounters fierce dust storms that cover the entire planet and can last for several months.

1. The Sun looks about half its size from Earth when viewed from Mars. When Mars is closest to the Sun in its orbit, the Southern Hemisphere points to the Sun and causes very little but fierce heat. In the north it experiences a brief but cold winter. When the planet is farthest from the Sun, Mars experiences a long and mild heat as the Northern Hemisphere points to the Sun. It is compared to the cold and long winter in the south.

1. With the exception of Earth, Mars is the most welcome guest for life - many space missions are planned for the next decade that can further enhance our understanding of Mars and when there will be a capacity for supernatural life here. It may be that a colony can also be settled here.

1. The Martians, known as extraterrestrials from Mars, are a general character in science fiction books and films. This makes Mars one of the most popular and popular planets in the solar system.

1. It takes Mars 687 Earth days to orbit the Sun with an orbit of 227,840,000 km.

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1. Mars is the only other planet other than Earth that has polar ice rods. The northern cap is called Planum Borellum, south of which is Planck Australia. Water ice has also been found under the Martian ice cap.

1. Mars has weather like Earth, but they live twice as long. This is because Mars is tilted about 25.19 degrees on its axis, which is similar to the Earth's axial tilt (22.5 degrees).

1. The orbit of Mars is the most unique of the eight planets. This means that it is the shortest orbiting path of the planets.

1. Mars does not have a magnetic field - although there are some scientists who believe that it was a magnetic field somewhere around 4 billion years ago.

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