Mars

Mars

Mars is a red planet with some similar features to Earth. It is still not known whether Mars has ever supported life.

Similar Features :

The soil on Mars contains iron oxide which gives the planet its red colour. Iron oxide is a mineral also found in Earth's soil. There is evidence that water once flowed on the Martian surface. There are valleys that have been eroded by water and dry riverbeds. Mars has icecaps at its north and south poles like Earth. The length of a Martian day is about 40 minutes longer than a day on Earth. Mars also has a similar tilt on its axis to Earth so it has the same pattern of seasons.

Volcanoes occur on Mars. In fact, Olympus Mons is the largest volcano in the solar system. It is 25 kilometres high and 600 kilometres wide.

Cold With No Oxygen :

There are significant differences between the atmospheres on Mars and on Earth. Mars has a very thin atmosphere of carbon dioxide which means that we could not survive on Mars. Mars is a very cold planet. The temperature falls to as low as -120 degrees with a maximum of around 0 degrees Celsius. Winds on Mars can cause huge dust storms which cover the whole planet.

AMAZING FACTS about Our Solar System :

The inner solar system is separated from the outer by the asteroid belt.

The solar system is port of the Milky Way galaxy which is a barred-spiral galaxy.

There were 9 planets in the Solar System until 2006 when the International Astronomical Union decided that Pluto could no longer be considered a plonet due to its size being smaller than our moon.

If all the planets were joined together, the Sun would still be more than 700 times bigger. It contains over 99% of the solar system's mass.

It takes two million years for gamma rays produced in the core of the Sun to reach its surface.

The Sun is the largest object the solar system. It is about 332 950 times more mossive than Earth.

The relationship between the Sun and the Earth drives the seasons, currents in the ocean, weather and climate.

The Sun has been burning for about five billion years and will bum for another five billion.

If you stood on Venus, the atmospheric pressure would be the same as if you were 900 metres underneath an ocean on Earth.

Much of the surface of Venus, including craters, has been covered in lava from previous eruptions.

Mercury and Venus are the only two planets in our solar system that don't have moons.

Mercury has the greatest variation in surface temperature of any planet in the solar system — can be over 600 degrees Celsius.

Because there is no wind or rain on the Moon, any footprints left by the astronauts should remain for millions of years.

It is thought that Earth was hit by a lorge object and the debris that was ejected into space joined together to form the Moon.

The official Latin name for planet Earth is Terra. It is named after the Roman goddess of fertility and growth - Terra Mater.

The Moon is the only other planet or satellite in the solar system that humans hove set foot upon.

The length of each Martian season is almost twice as long as a season on Earth.

Mars has the least hostile environment of all the other planets in the solar system.

The surface area of Mars is approximately equal to that of Earth's dry land as Mars does not have any oceans.

Mars has two small moons. They have uneven shapes and may originally have been asteroids.

After the Sun, the Moon and Venus, Jupiter is usually the fourth brightest object in the sky.

Saturn is almost exactly the same as Jupiter, just smaller. The only striking difference is the rings around Saturn.

Saturn's rings are thought to be particles of an old moon which was smashed to pieces in a collision million of years ago.

Jupiter is made of hydrogen and helium gases which also make up the Sun. If Jupiter had been any bigger, it could have become a star.

It takes 84 Earth years for Uranus to complete one full orbit around the Sun.

The Kuiper Belt contains many comets, asteroids and other small bodies made largely of ice.

As its orbit is so for from the sun, Neptune receives very little heat - in fact the uppermost regions of its atmosphere are -218 degrees Celsius.