Mars is the only planet whose surface can be seen in detail from the earth. It is the fourth planet of the solar system in order of increasing distance from the sun. It's period of revolution around the sun is 1.9 years - there is a thin atmosphere mostly consisting of CO2 there are while shrink in summer and expand in winter Mars changes colour in different seasons. No life has been defected on it. It is reddish in colour and the ancient Romans considered it to be the god of war. It is called Red planet.
Mars is like the earth in some ways. Its day is about the same length as the earth's though its year is about twice as long (687 days) It has summer and winter seasons like those of the earth. Moreover, its atmosphere contains nitrogen, Co2, O2, argon and water vapour. The surface features of bath the planets are also similar.
People in the past believed that intelligent life most be there on mars but the space-craft, that landed on mars in 1976, found no signs of life there. Life would not be easy on this planet indeed for the following reasons.
1. Mars is much further from the sun than the earth and so has very low temperatures (-124
0C to -240C).2. The atmosphere of Mars is too thin to block the sun's harmful radiation.
3. Its atmosphere contains a high percentage of CO2 and it is not possible to breathe in it.
It is believed that mars had large amounts of surface water millions of years ago, but almost non exists at present. It may be there in frozen state in its polar areas or beneath the crust of this planet.
The surface of mars has bright areas, dark areas and polar areas but no oceans craters, deep gorges and river-beds are also visible on Mars through a telescope.
Mars has Two moons whereas our earth has only one. They appear as dots to its left and right respectively.
Between Mars and Jupiter there are thousand of mini-planets that are called asteroids In Mythology - In mythology, Mars was believed to be the god of conflict/war.
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