Mars has the largest volcanoes in the solar system, including Olympus Mons, which is about 370 miles (600 km) in diameter, wide enough to cover the entire state of New Mexico.
Mass: 641,693,000,000,000 billion kg (0.107 x Earth)
Equatorial Diameter: 6,805
Polar Diameter: 6,755
Equatorial Circumference: 21,297 km
Known Satellites: 2
Notable Satellites: Phobos & Deimos
Orbit Distance: 227,943,824 km (1.38 AU)
Orbit Period: 686.98 Earth days (1.88 Earth years)
Surface Temperature: -87 to -5 °C
First Record: 2nd millenium BCOnly 16 missions to Mars have been successful.
Mars has the largest dust storms in the solar system:
They can last for months and cover the entire planet on. The seasons are extreme because its elliptical, oval-shaped orbital path around the sun is more elongated than most other planets in the solar system.
Pieces of Mars have fallen to Earth:
Scientists have found tiny traces of Martian atmosphere within meteorites violently ejected from Mars, then orbiting the solar system amongst galactic debris for millions of years, before crash landing on Earth.
Links:
http://www.space.com/47-mars-the-red-planet-fourth-planet-from-the-sun.html
http://space-facts.com/mars/
Mass: 641,693,000,000,000 billion kg (0.107 x Earth)
Equatorial Diameter: 6,805
Polar Diameter: 6,755
Equatorial Circumference: 21,297 km
Known Satellites: 2
Notable Satellites: Phobos & Deimos
Orbit Distance: 227,943,824 km (1.38 AU)
Orbit Period: 686.98 Earth days (1.88 Earth years)
Surface Temperature: -87 to -5 °C
First Record: 2nd millenium BCOnly 16 missions to Mars have been successful.
Mars has the largest dust storms in the solar system:
They can last for months and cover the entire planet on. The seasons are extreme because its elliptical, oval-shaped orbital path around the sun is more elongated than most other planets in the solar system.
Pieces of Mars have fallen to Earth:
Scientists have found tiny traces of Martian atmosphere within meteorites violently ejected from Mars, then orbiting the solar system amongst galactic debris for millions of years, before crash landing on Earth.
Links:
http://www.space.com/47-mars-the-red-planet-fourth-planet-from-the-sun.html
http://space-facts.com/mars/