Planet mars – You have had a visual tour in the mysterious world of Mars through CGI in The Martian which revolved around Matt Damon, who played an astronaut mistakenly left behind in Mars.
Countries, that are technological dinosaurs are paying the top dollar to mark their territory in Mars to unravel the well kept mysteries. India too joined this milieu by their Orbiter Mission which is their interplanetary spaceflight in the Red planet shrouded in mystery. You have studied in your geography books that Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and second-smallest planet in the Solar System after Mercury.
Planet Mars was named after the Roman war god which appears Red because of the abundance of Reddish Iron Oxide. Well, these are the textbook facts that we all know but here under are some pretty interesting information about Mars that will blow your mind:
Mars has the same landmass as the Earth:
Even if Mars is 15% of the Earth’s volume and just over 10% of the Earth’s mass, Mars’s gravity is 37% of the Earth.
The biggest mountain in the solar system is found in Mars:
Mars houses the biggest mountain in the solar system which is called Olympus Mons. This is a shield volcano about 21 km high and 600 km in diameter. Many scientists believe that it is still active because there are evidence of volcanic lava flowing. This mountain has been formed over billions of years straight.
The largest dust storms in the Solar System happen in Mars:
The entire planet is covered by the dust storms as they stay there for months at a stretch. Mars has an elliptical (oval shaped ) orbit which makes the seasons fairly extreme for Mars. Mars takes the most time in respect to the other planets to take one round around the Sun.
Sun appears half the size from Mars as it does from Earth:
Martian southern hemisphere leans towards the Sun, which causes a short-lived summer but unbearably sultry. Mars stands at the closest point to the Sun. In the northern hemisphere of Mars, there is a brief winter but cold to say the least. As it is located at the furthest point form the Sun, the Martian northern hemisphere leans towards the Sun hence has a comparatively colder winter.
Pieces of Mars have lately fallen on Earth:
There have been many instances of meteorites violently ejecting from Mars. Scientists found many traces of such to validate the fact. Planet mars orbits the Solar system amongst galactic debris for millions of years. The meteorites, as a result, crash land on the Earth and the scientists studied them a lot before launching their mission on Mars.
One day, Planet mars will have a ring, as scientists say:
In the coming 20-40 million years, Mars’s largest Moon phobos will be driven in shambles by gravitational forces followed by a creation of a ring which could endure for up to 100 million years.
Facts that really amuse us always lesser known.
