Mars

							    Mars




The Red Planet
Planet Composition/Size
        • Composition
          – composed primarily of basalt
          – much of the surface is deeply
            covered by a fine iron oxide dust
            that has the consistency of talcum
            powder
              • gives Mars its red color
        • Size
          – Mars has approximately half the
            radius of Earth and only one-tenth
            the mass
          – its surface area is only slightly less
            than the total area of Earth's dry
            land
                 Moons
• Mars has two small satellites
  – Phobos
  – Deimos


                                  Phobos




                                  Deimos
        Revolution/Rotation
• A solar day on Mars is 24 hours and 39
  minutes long.
• A Martian year is 1 year, 320 days, and
  18.2 hours.
             Temperatures
• Martian surface temperatures vary from
  lows of about −140 °C (-220 °F) during the
  polar winters to highs of up to 20 °C (68
  °F) in summers.
• Mars also has the largest dust storms in
  the Solar System.
  – can vary from a storm over a small area, to
    gigantic storms that cover the entire planet
  – tend to occur when Mars is closest to the Sun
          Distance from Sun
• Mars is one of the
  inner, or terrestrial,
  planets.
• It is the fourth planet
  from the sun.
• Mars’ average
  distance from the
  Sun is roughly 230
  million km.
            Surface Features
•   Mars is red in appearance
•   The surface of Mars is very rocky.
•   It is a mountainous planet.
•   The volcano, Olympus Mons, is
    the highest mountain in the solar
    system.                              Olympus Mons
           Interesting Facts
• Face on Mars
  – This image, showing what looks to be a
    human face and other features of the Cydonia
    region on the Martian surface, was produced
    using data from NASA's Viking 1 orbiter in
    1976.
                Resources
• Wikipedia
  – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars
• The Nine Planets
  – http://www.nineplanets.org/