Transcript Mars
Mars By: Bryent Kanashiro and Cierra Yoshikawa • • • • Fourth planet from the Sun Commonly referred to as the Red Planet rocks, soil and sky have a red or pink hue Given its name by the Romans in honor of their god of war Physical Characteristics Mars has approximately half the radius of Earth. It is less dense than Earth, having about 15% of Earth's volume and 11% of the mass. Its surface area is only slightly less than the total area of Earth's dry land Orbit and Rotation Mars’ average distance from the Sun is roughly 230 million km and its orbital period is 687 Earth days. The solar day on Mars is only slightly longer than an Earth day: 24 hours, 39 minutes, and 35.244 seconds Atmosphere • Composed primarily of carbon dioxide with small amounts of other gases • The six most common components of the atmosphere are: Carbon Dioxide (CO2): 95.32%Nitrogen (N2): 2.7%Argon (Ar): 1.6%Oxygen (O2): 0.13%Water (H2O): 0.03%Neon (Ne): 0.00025 % Temperature • Mars is -63° C (-81° F) with a maximum temperature of 20° C (68° F) and a minimum of -140° C (-220° F).] • The rotational period and seasonal cycles of Mars are similar to those of Earth. Climate Mars also has the largest dust storms in our Solar System. These can vary from a storm over a small area, to gigantic storms that cover the entire planet. They tend to occur when Mars is closest to the Sun, and have been shown to increase the global temperature Polar Caps The polar caps at both poles consist primarily of water ice. Liquid water cannot exist on the surface of Mars due to low atmospheric pressure, except at the lowest elevations for short period Frozen carbon dioxide accumulates on the north cap in the northern winter only. The south cap has a permanent dry ice cover about eight meters thick Mountains and Valleys • Olympus Mons is roughly 17 miles (27 kilometers) high, about three times as tall as Mount Everest • Valles Marineris system of valleys can go as deep as 6 miles Moons • Two moons • Phobos and Deimos were discovered by American astronomer Asaph Hall • they orbit very close to the planet. • Phobos rises in the west, sets in the east, and rises again in just 11 hours. • Deimos rises in the east but very slowly. VIDEO http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6IQdFC1Dwk&feature=related Work Cited • Hamilton, J. Calvin. “Mars.” View of the Solar System. n.d. Web 2 March 2011. <http://www.solarviews.com/eng/mars.htm>. • “Mars.” Nine Planets. n.d. Web. 2 March 2011. <http://nineplanets.org/mars.html>. • “Mars, the Red Planet, Fourth Planet from the Sun.” Space.com. n.d. Web. 2 March 2011. <http://www.space.com/47-mars-the-red-planetfourth-planet-from-the-sun.html>. • “The Red Planet.” National Geographic. n.d. Web. 2 March 2011. <http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/space /solar-system/mars-article.html>.