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Mars was also a planet known by the ancients, depicted as the Roman god of war (Ares in Greek mythology) possibly because of the planet's blood red color.
Mass -- 6.42 x 1023 kg (0.107 earth masses)
Radius -- 2,111 mi (3,397 km or 0.5326 earth radii)
Distance from the sun (average) -- 141,633,260 mi (227,936,640 km or 1.5237 AU)
Gravity -- 12.12 ft/sq. sec (3.69 m/sq. sec) An adult weighing 140 lbs on Earth would weigh 53 lbs on Mars.
Maximum surface temperature -- 25 °F
Minimum surface temperature -- -125 °F
Orbital velocity -- 53,979 mph (86,871 km/hr or 0.810 earth speed)
Orbital eccentricity -- 0.0934 This is how off-circular the moon's orbit around the Earth is. An eccentricity of 0.00 would be a perfect circle. An eccentricity of nearly 1 would be a very flattened oval. For a fun project on ellipses and eccentricity, click here.
Sidereal rotation -- 24.64 hr (1.026 earth days) A day on Mars is pretty close to a day on Earth.
Sidereal orbit -- 16,486 hr (687 earth days or 1.881 earth years) A year on Mars is nearly two Earth years.
Moons -- Phobos and Deimos
For more information on Mars, please visit SEDS' website http://www.nineplanets.org/mars.html and NASA's website http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Mars&Display=Overview. Both websites are wonderful resources.
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Website last updated March 16, 2006. Hosted by Anthony Watts, KMXI Radio. Webmasters Tiara Norris and Brendan Diamond. |
