Mars AKA the Red Planet:
(Say it in French! Mars)
It is the forth planet from the sun, and has soil that is a dark reddish brown. The diameter of Mars is 4,230 miles, and it is 142 million miles from the sun. Mars has two moons and the largest volcano in the solar system, known as Olympus Mons. Space probes have found no signs of life on mars, and although liquid water has not been found, it is believed that it once existed there. The probes discovered this by finding deep valleys and sedimentary rocks, which were probably formed by flowing water. A day on Mars is about just as long as a day on Earth, 24.5 hours but a year on Mars is 687 days.
More Facts About Mars:
Size: 4,230 mi. diameter
Distance from Sun: 142 million mi. from the sun. In other words, Mars 5,011,764,710 space shuttles from the sun!
Terrain/Surface: Rocky and almost totally covered in red dust. This dust is from iron in the rocks which has gotten rusty.
Climate: Mars is much colder and drier than Earth. The temperature gets down to -193 degrees.
Atmosphere: The atmosphere is very thin--so thin that Mars' reddish surface can be seen from Earth.
How Long is one Rotation of the Planet: 24.5 Earth hours (just a little longer than an Earth day)
How Long is one orbit of the Sun: 687 Earth days (almost twice as long as an Earth year)
Satellites: 2 moons
Fun Fact: The largest volcano in our solar system is located on Mars, called Olympic Mons. It is 16 miles high--three times higher than Mount Everest which the highest mountain on Earth.
DID YOU KNOW?
Mars is 37,893,333,300 4th graders from the Earth - GEEZ that's a lot of you!
ALSO DID YOU KNOW?
On Mars, a space probe discovered a canyon that is 10 times longer and 9 times wider, and 4 times deeper than the Grand Canyon in Arizona. The Grand Canyon is approximately 280 miles long, 11 miles wide, and 1 mile deep (in some areas). The Valles Marineris (Latin for Mariner Valleys and named for the Mariner 9 Mars orbiter of 1971-72) us 3105 miles long, 99 miles wide and about 4 miles deep.
