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The surface color of the planet Mars appears reddish from a distance because of rusty atmospheric dust. [1] From close up, it looks more of a butterscotch , [ 1 ] and other common surface colors include golden, brown, tan, and greenish, depending on minerals.
The elemental composition of Mars is different from Earth's in several significant ways. First, Martian meteorite analysis suggests that the planet's mantle is about twice as rich in iron as the Earth's mantle. [6] [7] The planet's distinctive red color is due to iron oxides on its surface. Second, its core is richer in sulphur. [8]
The maximum angular separation of the Earth and Moon varies considerably according to the relative distance between the Earth and Mars: it is about 25′ when Earth is closest to Mars (near inferior conjunction) but only about 3.5′ when the Earth is farthest from Mars (near superior conjunction). For comparison, the apparent diameter of the ...
Mars is often referred to as the "Red Planet" because of the rusty, reddish-orange sandscape blanketing the planet. That comes into sharp focus in our first color photo snapped by the Mars ...
It is known that in the past, Mars has had a much more circular orbit. At one point, 1.35 million Earth years ago, Mars had an eccentricity of roughly 0.002, much less than that of Earth today. [188] Mars's cycle of eccentricity is 96,000 Earth years compared to Earth's cycle of 100,000 years. [189]
The dark color is consistent with the presence of mafic rocks, such as basalt. The albedo of a surface usually varies with the wavelength of light hitting it. Mars reflects little light at the blue end of the spectrum but much at red and higher wavelengths. This is why Mars has the familiar reddish-orange color to the naked eye.
The Noachian period occurred from 4.1 to 3.7 billion years ago, and little is known from direct measurements dating to the pre-Noachian period on Mars, between 4.5 billion and 4.1 billion years ...
Areography, also known as the geography of Mars, is a subfield of planetary science that entails the delineation and characterization of regions on Mars. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] Areography is mainly focused on what is called physical geography on Earth; that is the distribution of physical features across Mars and their cartographic representations.