50 Interesting Facts About Mars

1. The Egyptians gave Mars its first recorded name: Har dècher (“The Red One”). The Babylonians called it Nergal (“Star of Death”). The Greeks and Romans named the planet after their respective gods of war, Ares and Mars. The Hebrews called it Ma’adim, or “the one who blushes.” Many ancient people believed the reddish color came from actual blood on the planet.

2. The month of March is named after Mars.

3. The symbol for Mars looks like a shield and a spear from the war god Mars/Ares. It is also the symbol for the male sex.

4. The ancient Greeks thought the Earth was the center of the Universe and that Mars was one of the five traveling stars that revolved around the Earth.

5. Egyptians called Mars the “the backward traveler” because Mars appeared to move backwards through the zodiac every 25.7 months.

6. Mars’ red color is due to iron oxide, also known as rust, and has the consistency of talcum powder. Literally, the metallic rocks on Mars are rusting.

7. The atmosphere (mostly made up of carbon dioxide) on Mars is so thin that water cannot exist in liquid form—it can exist only as water vapor or ice. Liquid water is considered for many scientists to be the “holy grail” of Mars

8. No human could survive the low pressure of Mars. If you went to Mars without an appropriate space suit, the oxygen in your blood would literally turn into bubbles, causing immediate death

9. If you were driving 60 mph in a car, it would take 271 years, 221 days to get to Mars from Earth.

10. Mars lacks an ozone layer; therefore, the surface of Mars is bathed in a lethal dose of radiation every time the sun rises

11. Mars contains the largest labyrinth of intersecting canyons in the solar system called the Noctis Labyrinthus (“labyrinth of the night”)

12. Mars has the largest and most violent dust storms in our entire solar system. These storms often have winds topping 125 mph, can last for weeks, and can cover the entire planet. They usually occur when Mars is closest to the sun.

13. Only 1/3 of spacecrafts sent to Mars have been successful, leading some scientists to wonder if there is a Martian “Bermuda triangle” or a “Great Galactic Ghoul” that likes to eat spacecraft

14. In 1976, Viking I photographed a mesa on Mars that had the appearance of a human face. Many individuals and organizations interested in extraterrestrial life argued that intelligent beings created the “Face.” Though the Mars Global Surveyor (1997-2006) revealed that the “Face” was likely an optical illusion, believers in the “Face” charged NASA with stripping data from the new image before it was released to the public

now there's one aimed at ATS

15. Mars has an enormous canyon named Valles Marineris (Mariner Valley) which is an astounding 2,500 miles long and four miles deep. As long as the continental United States, this gigantic canyon was likely formed by the tectonic “cracking” of Mars’ crust and is the longest known crevice in the solar system.

16. During the Renaissance, Mars place a central role in one of the most important and fiercest intellectual battles in the history of Western civilization: whether the earth was the center of the universe. Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543) coherently explained that Mars seems to move backwards across the sky because Earth overtakes Mars in its orbit around the sun.

17. Mars was formed about 4.5 billion years ago and is about 4,000 miles wide (half the diameter Earth). Because so much of Earth is covered by oceans, the amount of land surface of the two planets is nearly equal.e Mars is also much lighter than Earth: only 1/10 of its mass. It’s the fourth planet from the sun and is the last terrestrial (rocky) planet (the outer planets are all gaseous).

18. The Earth environment most closely resembling the current conditions of Mars is of the Antarctic deserts. However, even the most hostile environments on Earth are far more suitable for life than the surface of Mars

19. Mars’ crust is thicker than Earth’s and is made up of one piece, unlike Earth’s crust which consists of several moving plates.

20. Although it is much colder on Mars than on Earth, the similar tilt of Earth’s and Mars’ axes means they have similar seasons. Like Earth's, Mars’ north and south polar caps shrink in the summer and grow in the winter. In addition, a day on Mars is 24 hours 37 minutes—nearly the same as Earth’s. No other planet shares such similar characteristics with Earth

If you enjoyed these visit the Source for the final 30.

Some of these are well known but several of them are new to me (and hopefully you).

Mars is such an extreme place (even tho its the most earth like) I'll be amazed if we make it there in my lifetime.

reply to post by Alaskan Man


Thanks for these!! I love Mars Its my favorite planet and I sure hope we get there in my lifetime too! I will volunteer to go first!!! lol

S&F

reply to post by mblahnikluver


Have to agree with you there about volunteering, even if it was a one way trip with no way home, I would still volunteer, so if any Space Agency is reading, take note, I will be your guinea pig.

Probably pop my clogs half way there but hey, aim me right I will hit it.

reply to post by Alaskan Man


Absolutely interesting ! I would definitely say yes. To a tour of Mars !

Thank you

[edit on 25/2/10 by Sinter Klaas]

reply to post by Alaskan Man

Good thread, thanks, I learned something! I knew Mars was smaller than Earth, but I never realized it was only 10% of the Earth's mass, I was thinking a bit more than that based on the size but I had never really looked into the density of Mars until just now:

www.universetoday.com...

When you do the math, the density of Mars is 3.94 grams per cubic centimeter (g/cm^3).

In comparison, the Earth is the densest planet in the Solar System, with an average density of 5.52 g/cm^3.

And despite the mass of Mars only being 10% that of Earth, you would weigh 37% as much on Mars as you do on Earth. That's seems like relatively strong gravity for such a small mass.

I'm glad you other folks are volunteering to go, I'll be watching you and cheering for you on your trip! I haven't figured out how they are going to make a strong enough radiation shield for that long trip, there's a lot of cosmic rays out there.

Interesting facts. I've been reading Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom novels, which take place on Mars, so I had fun reading those facts and seeing how many he got wrong in the novels :p

Arbitrageur: And despite the mass of Mars only being 10% that of Earth, you would weigh 37% as much on Mars as you do on Earth. That's seems like relatively strong gravity for such a small mass.

That puzzled me for a minute, too, until I remembered the formula for gravitational force. In addition to the mass of the planet, it also includes the radius of the planet (squared), and since Mars is smaller, you are closer to the center than you are on Earth.

For instance, suppose there was a planet that had the exact same mass as Earth, but it was really dense and was 1/4 the size. If you were on the surface of this planet, you would weigh more than you would on Earth because you are closer to the center of mass. Or think of a black hole, how it is smaller than the star that collapsed to form it, but it has higher gravitational force at its surface than the star did.

reply to post by DragonsDemesne


Right, but it's interesting that the examples you used were denser, then it's intuitive the gravity would be greater. But in fact Mars is LESS dense and yet it has 370% as much gravity relative to the mass of the planet.

I'm sure all the numbers work out when you plug them in the gravitational equation, it's just that seems a less dense planet having 370% as much gravity at the surface per kilogram of mass seems a little counter-intuitive. But hey, not every scientific truth is completely intuitive, if it were, it wouldn't have taken us centuries to figure out some relatively simple things.

Reply to Arbitrageur.

And despite the mass of Mars only being 10% that of Earth, you would weigh 37% as much on Mars as you do on Earth. That's seems like relatively strong gravity for such a small mass.

I was just about to reply.

But...

That puzzled me for a minute, too, until I remembered the formula for gravitational force. In addition to the mass of the planet, it also includes the radius of the planet (squared), and since Mars is smaller, you are closer to the center than you are on Earth.

This makes sense to me.

But...

This is what NR. 30 from the link says.

30.Mars has 37.5% of the gravity that Earth has. This means that a 100-pound person on Earth would weigh only 38 pounds on Mars and could jump three times as high.a

Please explain this to me ?
I'm confused.

Originally posted by Sinter Klaas
Please explain this to me ?
I'm confused.

I'm not sure what you're confused about, but I'll take a shot. Mass and radius are the factors in the gravitational equation for a planet, so if radius were constant, then a planet with 1/10 the mass you'd weigh 1/10 as much, or 10%, so a 100 lb person would weigh 10 lbs.

Well Mars does have 10% of earth's mass, but because of the radius being different, it's not 10% of Earth's gravity, it's 37% so the 100 pound person would weigh 37 pounds. So 37%/10% =370% so Mars has 370% the surface gravity of Earth per kilogram of planet mass as Earth even though Mars is less dense. It's not really that intuitive but trust me it works out when you plug the numbers in the equation, I went through that exercise before when I was looking at other objects.

Not sure if that helps but if you want a more specific answer you need to ask a more specific question, I tried!

reply to post by Arbitrageur


I'm sorry. I'll try again.

You give an equation to get an answer. I should be heavier on Mars.

This makes complete sense to me !

The article writes about me being lighter on Mars. I would be able to jump 3 times as high.


The results contradict each other.

So, please tell me ? Is your way just a new way, because of new understanding ?

What can I tell my friends ? Am I heavier or lighter on Mars ?

Thank you for your trouble. I appreciate it !

Originally posted by Sinter Klaas
reply to post by Arbitrageur

 

The results contradict each other.
What can I tell my friends ? Am I heavier or lighter on Mars ?

You're lighter on Mars. If you weighed 100 lbs on Earth, you'd weigh about 37 pounds on Mars.

Now if you asked the question, how much gravity does mars have relative to the Earth, per kilogram of planet mass? Then the answer would be bigger on mars but that's not what you're asking. It won't make you weigh more on Mars, it's just that the tiny little bit of mass Mars has, pulls on you more strongly because you're closer to it, because Mars is so small.

[edit on 26-2-2010 by Arbitrageur]

14. In 1976, Viking I photographed a mesa on Mars that had the appearance of a human face. Many individuals and organizations interested in extraterrestrial life argued that intelligent beings created the “Face.” Though the Mars Global Surveyor (1997-2006) revealed that the “Face” was likely an optical illusion, believers in the “Face” charged NASA with stripping data from the new image before it was released to the public





if you research they now believe there is no chance it is naturally made

reply to post by sv_gravity 800


I'm interested in that. Does anyone have any outside source on the face on mars, NASA or some other source?

Really interesting read S&F! It is very refreshing to read something about mars (or space in general for that matter,) here that is not about invading alien forces or the like.

Ooo Fact #51 - Mars is also a candy bar!

Good post OP, just couldn't help a little bit of humor. S & F

Originally posted by sv_gravity 800
14. In 1976, Viking I photographed a mesa on Mars that had the appearance of a human face.
if you research they now believe there is no chance it is naturally made

Does "they" refer to scientists, lunatics, or somebody else? I have no idea who "they" is, as the research I've seen isn't consistent with your statement. If you have a link to a scientific article about that, please post it.

I could add this: martian landscape and the sky aren't the dramatic red like many "artist's impression" images or colourisations make them look.

I'll let you decide for yourself what colour you wanna call it, based on these images:




Martian sky from zenith to horizon:


As mentioned earlier, these colours are due to the fine iron oxide dust suspended in the atmosphere and covering the terrain. en.wikipedia.org...