Search results
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. The surface of Mars is orange-red because it is covered in iron (III) oxide dust, giving it the nickname " the Red Planet ". [21] [22] Mars is among the brightest objects in Earth's sky, and its high-contrast albedo features have made it a common subject for telescope viewing.
Mars is no place for the faint-hearted. It’s dry, rocky, and bitter cold. The fourth planet from the Sun, Mars, is one of Earth's two closest planetary neighbors (Venus is the other). Mars is one of the easiest planets to spot in the night sky – it looks like a bright red point of light.
Mars has a dense core at its center between 930 and 1,300 miles (1,500 to 2,100 kilometers) in radius. It's made of iron, nickel, and sulfur. Surrounding the core is a rocky mantle between 770 and 1,170 miles (1,240 to 1,880 kilometers) thick, and above that, a crust made of iron, magnesium, aluminum, calcium, and potassium.
1 day ago · Mars is the fourth planet in the solar system in order of distance from the Sun and the seventh in size and mass. It is a periodically conspicuous reddish object in the night sky. There are intriguing clues that billions of years ago Mars was even more Earth-like than today.
- Mars is less than 56 million km (35 million miles) from Earth at its closest approach, but it recedes to almost 400 million km (250 million miles)...
- Mars is the second smallest planet in the solar system, only larger than Mercury and slightly more than half the size of Earth. It has an equatoria...
- Mars is similar to Earth in many ways. Like Earth, it has clouds, winds, a roughly 24-hour day, seasonal weather patterns, polar ice caps, volcanoe...
- The characteristic temperature on Mars in the lower atmosphere is about 200 kelvins (K; −100 °F, −70 °C), which is generally colder than the averag...
- The Viking landers are two robotic U.S. spacecraft launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for the study of the planet...
- Space colonization, on Mars or elsewhere, is widely debated. Some argue humans have a moral duty to save our species from extinction, and space col...
May 31, 2018 · From its blood-like hue to its potential to sustain life, Mars has intrigued humankind for thousands of years. Learn how the red planet formed from gas and d...
- 4 min
- 4.2M
- National Geographic
Overview. Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun – a dusty, cold, desert world with a very thin atmosphere. Mars is also a dynamic planet with seasons, polar ice caps, canyons, extinct volcanoes, and evidence that it was even more active in the past. Mars is one of the most explored bodies in our solar system, and it's the only planet where ...
In Depth. Introduction. Mars is no place for the faint-hearted. It’s dry, rocky, and bitter cold. The fourth planet from the Sun, Mars is one of Earth's two closest planetary neighbors (Venus is the other). Mars is one of the easiest planets to spot in the night sky – it looks like a bright red point of light.