Olympus mons. Tallest mountain in the solar system
Ice on Mars south pole. Mars Express reveals frozen water
Mars Express. In 2003 ESA launched the Mars Express
Mars data. What kind of planet is this..?
Mars classic. The look of Mars a century ago
Acheron Fossae. A slice of Mars.
Tithonium Chasma. Valles Marineris.
Mars is the fourth planet in the solar system.
It is named after the Roman god of war (Ares is the greek counterpart),
on account of its blood red color in the night sky.
Olympus Mons, an extinct vulcano, is 27 km high;
the tallest mountain in the solar system.
Mars also has the largest canyon system,
Valles Marineris, 4000 km long and 7 km deep. Read more...
from the sun: 229 million km.
(The closest distance from Earth is 56 million km.)
3396 km (equatorial)
144 million mē
(like Earth, oceans excluded)
0.38 G (about 1/3 of Earth)
Very thin (about 0.75% of the average on Earth).
95% carbon dioxide, 3% nitrogen, 1.6% argon,
with only a trace of oxygen and water.
Minimum -140° C. Maximum: 20° C. Average -63° C.
Mars has two small moons, Phobos and Deimos.
Both small and oddly shaped, possibly captured asteroids.
(Phobos will eventually impact on Mars's surface.)
Both satellites were discovered in 1877 by Asaph Hall.
(However already mentioned
in 1726 by Jonathan Swift in "Gullivers travels".)