Space and Astronomy Atlas

How The Universe Works
Celestial Objects

Mars

Also Known As The Red Planet

Citation Formats

General Reference

APA Style

BibTeX

Cratered Disc

The fourth planet from the Sun, known as the Red Planet for the iron oxide dust covering its surface. Home to Olympus Mons, the largest known volcano in the solar system, and Valles Marineris, one of its largest canyon systems, Mars is the primary target of the search for evidence of past microbial life.

Facts
Object Type
Terrestrial planet 1
Diameter (km)
6779 1
Mass
6.42 x 10^23 kg 1
Orbital Distance
1.52 AU (about 228 million km) from the Sun 1
Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Curiosity, Spacecraft

Landed in Gale Crater in August 2012.

Landed in Jezero Crater in February 2021.

Sources
1. NASA Solar System Exploration
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Wikipedia (space and spaceflight articles)
Wikimedia FoundationMars, Wikipedia - lead section
Quote, Mars, Wikipedia - lead section
It is also known as the 'Red Planet', for its orange-red appearance.
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.

View At A Past Year

The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.