Published By: Preeti Kaul

To Mars: The Fascinating Details about the Red Planet

People from our planet have been fascinated by their nearest neighbour in the solar system, Mars. Let’s find out some fantastic facts about the planet. 

Ever since our space technology has been developed, our scientists have been sending regular space crafts to Mars in order to explore more and solve all the mystery around it. The astrobiologists claim that the atmosphere of Mars was conducive to life around 3.5 billion years ago, and life might have been possible on the planet as it had enough water and warm temperature. The claim works as fodder to people’s imagination and a premise to various science fictions too.

  1. Mars gets its name from the Roman god of war, inspired by its red colour, which symbolizes blood and battleground. Greeks called the planet as Ares. Similarly, Chinese people called it ‘the fire star’ due to its colour. Egyptians also named it as ‘Her Deshar’ or ‘the red one’. So, it is evident that people from the earliest human civilizations were well aware of its existence. The red hue is due to the iron dust on rocks, which is rusted when it comes in contact with air.
  2.  The temperature of Mars is relatively lower than the Earth. The areas around the equator are pleasant with a temperature around 20 degrees Celsius, but it is quite cold around the poles with -140 degree Celsius.
  3.  Mars is the second smallest planet of the solar system after Mercury. In size, it is about half the size of Earth with a diameter of 6,791 Kilometers.
  4. The highest mountain of the Solar system is located in Mars. It is a volcano named as Olympus Mons which has a massive height of 24 Kilometers, making it about three times the size of our own Mount Everest. Scientists believe that the volcano could still be active.
  5. The Red Planet has two moons, namely Phobos and Deimos.
  6. A Martian day is slightly longer than an Earth day. It is 24 hours and 37 minutes long. Don’t get excited as a Martian year is much longer than that of an Earth year with 687 earth days. It is because Mars takes a lot of time orbiting around the Sun.
  7. In 2018, Scientists found the evidence of a possible underground lake under Mars’ south polar ice cap. It is quite a discovery as compared to previous studies which refuted any such claim.
If you found the above information interesting, don’t forget to pass it on to your folks.