Mars

Keywords

Mars, bringer of war, ice caps, red surface, craters, volcanos, desert, sand, magnetic field, lighter gravity, Phobos, Deimos, seasons.

Introduction

Mars is the fourth planet in the Solar System, and the last of the rock-formation planets. It has a red surface, of which it also has ice caps at the poles. There is substantial evidence that Mars either is capable of, or has had some form of life living on it.

Planet Features

Size: Mars is smaller in size than that of Earth and Venus, but bigger than Mercury. It is also bigger than the Moon that orbits Earth, but only just.

Visual Appearance: a striking red hue has come back from almost all imagery of the planet, with a polar ice cap at the bottom of the planet. There are craters, volcanos and deserts that spread around the planet. Winds move particles of the planet around, and chemical reactions also provide a factor.

Interesting fact: the surface gravity on Mars is 38% that of Earth. For example, if you weigh 100 pounds on Earth, you would weight only 38 pounds on Mars.

Structure: Mars is similar to Earth with its strucure, in having a core, mantle and crust. The difference is that Mars does not have a magnetic field. Because of the distance from the Sun, temperatures on the planet can either reach up to 20° Celcius, or as low as -125° Celcius.

Name: the bringer of war, Mars is named after a Roman god, known for creating war. The Greek equivalent was named Ares, hence why its moons are called Phobos and Deimos. The name also suggest an agricultural significance, but its name was most likely given due to the blood red hue it had when looked at in the sky.

More: Mars is orbited by two moons - Phobos and Deimos. They are named after twin brothers in Greek mythology, and were both deities. They were discovered by American astronomer Asaph Hall in 1877. Mars has seasons - similar to Earth, Mars too has a spring, summer, autumn and winter. This is determined by its placement in orbit to the Sun. The closer to the Sun it is, determines Spring, Summer and Autumn, and the furthest away in orbit, determines its winter.