Nothing But The Facts About Mars

1) Position in the solar system: 4th planet from the sun

2) Closest distance to the sun: Perihelion: 2.067x10^8 km, 1.24x10^8 miles

3) Furthest distance from the sun: Aphelion: 2. 491x10^8 km, 1.49x10^8 miles

4) Minimum Distance to Earth: 55.7x10^6 km, 33.6x10^6 miles

5) Martian day: 24hr 37m 23s

6) Martian year: 686.98 days

7) Axis tilt: 25.2 degrees

8) Orbital Inclination to ecliptic: 1.9 degrees

9) Orbital Eccentricity: 0.094

10) Diameter (equatorial): 6794 km, 4076 miles

11) Mass: 6.42x10^23 kg, 14.1x10^23 lbs

12) Gravity: .38 (Earth = 1)

13) Escape Velocity: 5.03 km/s, 3.1 miles/s

14) Temperature range: -140C to 25C, -220F to 77F

15) Mean Surface pressure: .01 bars, .01atm

16) Atmospheric Composition: 95% carbon dioxide, 3% nitrogen, 1.5% argon, trace amounts of water.

17) Number of moons: 2 (Phobos and Deimos)

18) Ringed system? No

19) Magnetic Field? No

1) Largest volcano in the solar system: Olympus Mons (Home of the Greek Gods) – Rises 27 km (16.7 miles) above the surface of Mars. About 3 times as tall as Mount Everest (29,029 feet). Its base is 540 km (335 mi) wide—it would cover the entire state of New Mexico!

2) Longest canyon in the solar system: Valles Marineris – This canyon ranges over 4000 km (2490 miles), and can be as wide as 200 km (125 miles) with depths up to 7 km (4 miles). Compare this with the Grand Canyon on Earth, which is 446 km (277 miles) long, 30 km (18 miles) wide and 1.6 km (1 mile) deep. If Valles Marineris were placed on the surface of Earth, it would stretch from New York City to San Diego, California!

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/planetfact.html

Mars: http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/planetfact.html

Olympus Mons: http://ircamera.as.arizona.edu/NatSci102/NatSci102/lectures/mars.htm

Valles Marineris: http://rst.gsfc.nasa.gov/Sect19/originals/Fig19_56.jpg