8 Interesting Facts About Mars

Photo credit: NASA/ESA

Named after the Roman God of war, Mars is also known as the ‘Red Planet’ because of its red colour as the planet is covered with soil, rock, and dust in which the presence of iron oxide gives the surface its rusty colour.

Mars has two moons, called Phobos and Deimos.

One day on the Red Planet is 24 hours and 37 minutes and the year is 687 Earth days long.

Mars is home to Olympus Mons, the highest mountain in our solar system. It is also a large shield volcano and is a whopping 24 kilometres high.

The Red Planet is also home to the largest canyon in the entire Solar System, Valles Marineris. It is 4,000 kilometres long, 200 km wide and 10 km deep.

Mars is much colder than Earth. The temperatures near the equator can be around 20 degrees Celsius, but near the poles, the temperature plummet to as low as -140 degrees Celsius.

Mars is the second smallest planet in the solar system after Mercury.

Mars has one-third of Earth’s gravity, so you would be able to jump nearly three times as high as here.