Mars

Mars is the fourth planet of our solar system. It has two satellites. It has a diameter of 6,755.2 kms (4,222 miles). Its average distance from the sun is 225.6 million kms (141 miles). It orbits the Sun in 687 days in a somewhat centric orbit, and 24½ hours to revolve on its own axis, which inclines to its equator at an angle of 29°.

Its atmosphere is very thin. Latets indications suggest that there might have been life there. It is a barren place covered with reddish soil and rocks. The surface is marked with dormant volcanoes and deep chasms where, in earlier days, water might have been flowing. One of the estimates suggest that there is four times as much land as water in it. It is accompanied by two moons, an outer making a revolution round it in 30 hours 18 minutes, and an inner in 7 hours and 38 minutes. They are the smallest such heavenly bodies known to science.

It is nearest the earth, of one-half its diameter.

Nearby pages
Mars the Roman god, Marseilles, Marsh, Marshal Ancre, Marshal de Boucicaut