MARS

Many people recognize Mars because of its red appearance, and this has been true since the first clear sighting of Mars. Mars is known as the Red Planet because of the iron oxide in its soil, commonly known as "rust." It is the fourth planet from the Sun. From the sky it looks like a red star. Temperatures on Mars range from -20 °F to -202 °F. Mars is 4,200 miles in diameter and orbits the sun every 687 days. A day on Mars is actually pretty close to Earth's, which is at 24 hours, 37, minutes and 23 seconds. Climate is very different from Earth's because the very thin atmosphere is 95% carbon dioxide and it has an atmospheric pressure less than 1 percent that of Earth's.

Mars has captured the imagination of many science fiction writers because its landscape can be seen with a small telescope. Early in this century, some astronomers reported seeing network canals on Mars, and dark patches on the surface which they thought were patches of vegetation. Mars was thought to have intelligent life forms until the landing of Viking 1 and 2 spacecraft. Astronomers finally realized that there was no civilization on Mars. Astronomers also found out that there were no canals and that the dark areas are actually rocks and dust.

Even though there are no canals, there are numerous channel type crevices found all over the Martian surface, with a depth of up to about 1,600 km. Some other Martian features suggest that there is much geological activity. There is a system of gorges that dwarf the Grand Canyon, the largest called Valles Marineris. Along with large crevices and canyons, Mars has many active volcanic mountains. These mountains have erupted many times and caused molten lava to flood the landscape of Mars, constructing many hilly areas. The largest volcano that we have noticed on the Mars surface is called Olympus Mons, which is three times higher that the tallest mountain on Earth, Mount Everest.

The surface of Mars has not always been barren and windy. In fact, some time ago, it had almost the same features and climate as on Earth. This could also point to Mars as once supporting life, single-celled to multiple-celled.

Images of Mars