THE LURE OF MARS
Of all the planets in the solar system, none have intrigued the public more than Mars. Mars is easy to observe and changing surface markings can be seen with even a small telescope. It was the changing variegated surface markings that led to the speculation of life on the red planet.
Mars has a diameter of 6796 km, about half the size of the Earth. A day on Mars is 24 hours 37 minutes almost exactly the same as Earth's. The Martian year is 687 days slightly less than twice the length of a year on Earth.
In some ways, Mars is quite similar to Earth. The red planet's axial tilt is 25.2 degrees, very close to the Earth's. Mars also displays seasons, polar caps and geological features of the grandest scale, Mars is a fascinating planet!
South Polar The Sun Asteroids Comets Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto
Copyright © 1995 - 2008
Kathy Miles, Author, and Chuck Peters, Systems Administrator
URL reveals our email address after you solve a reCAPTCHA (image containing two words).