What is Mars? Related Post 7 » star-planete.net

Mars is a planet with a thin atmosphere, made up of carbon dioxide and nitrogen. It also has a large polar ice cap.

If the ice caps were to melt, they could cover most of Mars’s surface. This would give it an appearance similar to Earth, but much smaller.

It is a rocky planet

Mars, the fourth planet from the sun and Earth’s nearest neighbor, is a rocky world with an iconic red color. The color is caused by iron minerals in its “regolith,” or loose dust and rock covering the surface.

It is also cold with an average temperature of minus 80 degrees Fahrenheit (-60 degrees Celsius). The red dust often winds up into giant dust storms, which are sometimes visible from Earth.

It is a cold planet

Mars is a planet in our solar system that lies about 141 million miles away from the Sun. It revolves around the Sun every 687 days and has two small moons – Phobos and Deimos.

Mars has a rocky surface that is covered with red dust which is often whipped up by winds into gigantic dust storms that can be seen from Earth. These storms are the largest in the Solar System.

Due to its extremely cold climate, liquid water probably cannot exist on the Martian surface for any length of time. Nevertheless, landforms on the planet suggest that it may have once been a warm and wet place.

It has a thin atmosphere

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in our solar system and Earth’s neighbour. It is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere, having surface features reminiscent of both the impact craters of the Moon and the valleys, deserts and polar ice caps of Earth.

The thin atmosphere on Mars consists mainly of carbon dioxide with small fractions of nitrogen, argon, and oxygen. Traces of water vapour and other gases are also present.

It has a polar ice cap

Mars has a polar ice cap that grows in winter and shrinks in summer. These ice caps form because Mars’ rotation axis tilts about 25deg to its orbit around the Sun, causing a seasonal cycle of melting and freezing.

The ice is made up of both water and carbon dioxide ice. Water ice melts and refreezes in the spring and summer, while carbon dioxide ice sublimates (turns back into a gas) as the planet’s temperature increases.

It has volcanoes

The planet mars has a number of volcanoes including Olympus Mons. This is the tallest volcano on Mars, 13 miles / 21 km high and also has the biggest canyon Valles Marines.

Most volcanism on Mars occurred between 3 and 4 billion years ago with smaller eruptions occurring as recently as 3 million years ago. Now, spacecraft circling Mars have revealed evidence of an even younger part of the Cerberus Fossae system that may show that Martian volcanoes are still active.

Specifically, the researchers found a smooth dark volcanic deposit that is 8 miles wide and surrounded by a 20-mile-wide fissure in the system of cracks known as Cerberus Fossae. This makes it the newest volcanic feature on Mars.

It has canyons

Mars is one of the most dynamic planets in our solar system. It has seasons, polar ice caps, canyons, extinct volcanoes, and evidence that it was more active in the past.

It is thought that Valles Marineris formed as a result of a widening crack between tectonic plates, billions of years ago. As a nearby group of volcanoes in the Tharsis region thrust molten rock out of the Martian soil, it cracked the crust.

The European Space Agency’s Mars Express took stunning pictures of the chasma in April. The images reveal dark sand dunes, mountain-size mounds, and landslides.

It has plains

Mars is a rocky planet that’s about one-tenth the mass of Earth, but slightly larger in diameter than Mercury and our Moon. It’s also the only planet in the solar system whose solid surface can be observed from Earth by telescopes.

It has a number of features similar to those found on Earth, including clouds, winds, seasonal weather patterns, polar ice caps, volcanoes, canyons and plains. It is also believed to have had a watery past, but scientists are not sure what happened during this time.

Unlike the cratered landscape of Mercury or the highland terrain of the Moon, Mars has large areas of smooth intercrater plains. These plains appear to have formed when a giant impactor hit the planet, creating a huge lava plain.