Interesting Facts About Mars - Fun Facts About Mars Planet

One of the eight major planets of the Solar System, Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. Earth and Jupiter, being the third and fifth planets from the Sun, serve as its next-door neighbors. The planet is named after the Roman God of War, primarily because of the reason that its color is very similar to the color of blood. The reddish-orange color of Mars is also the reason why the planet is known as the 'Red Planet'. If you are interested in exploring more about Mars, make use of the fun and interesting facts provided in the lines below.

Fun and Interesting Facts About Mars

Mars is the seventh largest planet in the Solar System.
There has been strong evidence, mainly in the form of channels, valleys, and gullies, that Mars once had water flowing on its surface.
Mars is home to 'Valles Marineris', a canyon system that is much deeper and much longer than the Grand Canyon in the United States.
Mars boasts of having mountains that are higher than Mount Everest, the highest peak on Earth. It also houses Olympus Mons, the highest known mountain in the Solar System.
The atmosphere of Mars is about 100 times less dense than the atmosphere of Earth. However, it is dense enough to support weather system that includes clouds and winds.
The average temperature on Mars is about -80 degrees F (-60 degrees C), making it much colder than Earth.
The average distance between Mars and Sun is about 141,620,000 miles (227,920,000 kilometers).
The average radius (distance from its center to its surface) of Mars is 2,107 miles (3,390 kilometers), about half that of Earth.
Though Mars travels around the sun in an elliptical (oval) orbit, just like other planets, its orbit is slightly more "stretched out" than most of the other planets.
One year on Mars is equal to 687 days on Earth.
Just like Earth, Mars also rotates on its axis from west to east.
One day on Mars is 24 hours, 39 minutes and 35 seconds long.
The axis of Mars is not perpendicular to the planet's orbital plane; rather it is tilted from the perpendicular position.
Mars has a mass of 7.08 X 1020 tons (6.42 X 1020 metric tons).
The density of Mars is about 3.933 grams per cubic centimeter.
The force of gravity on Mars being only about 38 percent of that on Earth, a person standing on its surface would feel his weight reduced by 62%.
It has been estimated that the average thickness of Martian crust is about 30 miles (50 kilometers).
Mars claims the distinction of the being the planet with the largest volcanoes in the solar system.
The atmosphere of Mars is made up of 0.13% oxygen, 95.3% carbon dioxide, 2.7% nitrogen, 1.6% argon, 0.07% carbon monoxide and 0.03% water vapors.
The atmospheric pressure on Mars' surface is about 0.10 pound per square inch (0.7 kilopascal).
Mars has two tiny moons - Phobos and Deimos.
It is believed that Mars might have harbored life in the past and might have living things existing even today.
The surface of Mars resembles the impact craters of the Moon as well the volcanoes, valleys, deserts and polar ice caps of Earth.
Mars was first visited by the Mariner 4, in 1965.

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