1. Mars: A Red Planet By: Nirali M

2. AboutFact Average distance from sun in miles 142 million miles Average distance from sun in AU1.4 to 1.5 AU Perihelion distance128.6 million miles Aphelion distance160 million miles. Rational period (Length of Day)24.6 or 24 hours, 39 mins Orbital Period (Length of Year)687 days Diameter4,200 Km Type of PlanetTerrestrial Type of RotationClockwise Number of Moons2, Phobos and Deimos

3. Mars is named after the Roman God of War. The Greeks first called it Ares because of its red color which is associated with War. Atmosphere: Atmosphere is thin, dusty and un-breathable Temperature: Average temperature is -63 o C (-81.4 o F) Highest Temperature is 23 o F Lowest Temperature is -125 o F Surface: The color is Red. It has a lot of impact craters, lava rocks and volcanic rock Atmosphere Composition: Mostly made Carbon Dioxide (95 %). It also contains Nitrogen (2.7%), Argon (1.6%) and Oxygen (.13%) Soil Composition: Iron rich minerals Symbol:

4. 1.Mars is the 4 th Planet in the Solar System 2.About 4.6 Billion Years Old 3.Mass is much smaller and denser than Earth 4.Martian Crust contains Volcanic Rock 5.Martian Core contains Iron, Nickel and Sulfur 6.Core of Mars is most likely solid, does not have a magnetic field 7. Distance of Mars from Sun is 1 ½ times the distance of Earth from the Sun 8.Mars is much colder than Earth 9.Mars has mountains that are much higher than Mr. Everest, Earth’s highest Peak. 10.Water once flowed on Mars forming the canyons. 11.There are a lot of dust storms over Mars 12.Mars exploration began in 1960’s by the US.

5. Outer Surface of Mars Surface of Mars photographed by Hubble Space Telescope

6. FactMarsEarth Mass0.64 x 10 24 Kg (10% of Earth) 5.3796 x 10 24 Kg Gravity3.74 m/s 2 (37% of Earth) 9.8 m/s 2 Size (Radius)2,107 miles (1/2 the radius of earth) 4,200 miles Satellites (or Moons) 21 Distance from Sun141,620,000 miles (1/12 times farther than Earth to Sun) 94,413,333 miles

7. Crust: about 50 Km thick Mantle: 500 Km thick Core: 5500 Km thick

8. Mars

9. www.nasa.gov- the NASA website www.nasa.gov- SIRS on Media Center (Campus Middle School) www.nettrekker.com Encyclopedia Britannica Online Natural and Applied Sciences Univ. of Wisconsin, Green Bay Website for some facts