Mars is the planet most similar to Earth in our solar system. It's day is slightly longer and it's surface area is about the same as the all the continents of Earth. The gravity is only a bit over a third of Earths and the atmosphere is very thin, only about 1% that of Earth. Some have described it as like Antartica, only without air! From the surface, the sky appears a butterscotch color during the day and varying shades of pink during sunrise and sunset.
Current Position: Click to view
Historical Timeline: Click to view
Table of Data for the Planet Mars
| Orbital data | |
|---|---|
| Semimajor axis | 227,940,000 km (1.52366 a.u.) |
| Eccentricity | 0.0934 |
| Inclination | 1.8504° |
| Longitude of ascending node | 49.59° |
| Longitude of perihelion | 335.94° |
| Mean orbital velocity | 24.13 km/sec |
| Mean synodic period | 779.94 days |
| Mean sidereal motion | 0.5204°/day |
| Physical elements | |
|---|---|
| Axial inclination | 25.19° |
| Length of sidereal day | 24 hr, 37 min, 22.66 sec |
| Mean orbital period | 686.98 Earth days |
| 669.60 Martian solar days | |
| Diameter | 6,779.84 kilometers |
| Polar compression | 0.006 |
| Surface area (Earth = 1) | 0.2825 |
| Volume (Earth = 1) | 0.1504 |
| Mass (Earth = 1) | 0.1074 |
| Density (water = 1) | 3.93 |
| Mean escape velocity | 5.027 km/sec |
| Moons | |
|---|---|
| Mars has 2 small moons | |
| - Phobos | 24 hr, 37 min, 22.66 sec |
| - Deimos | 24 hr, 37 min, 22.66 sec |
