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Orbit of Mars and other Inner Solar System planets. Mars's average distance from the Sun is roughly 230 million km (143 million mi), and its orbital period is 687 (Earth) days. The solar day (or sol) on Mars is only slightly longer than an Earth day: 24 hours, 39 minutes, and 35.244 seconds. [185]
The average length of a Martian sidereal day is 24 h 37 m 22.663 s (88,642.663 seconds based on SI units), and the length of its solar day is 24 h 39 m 35.244 s (88,775.244 seconds). [3]
Mars comes closer to Earth more than any other planet save Venus at its nearest—56 million km is the closest distance between Mars and Earth, whereas the closest Venus comes to Earth is 40 million km. Mars comes closest to Earth every other year, around the time of its opposition, when Earth is sweeping between the Sun and Mars. Extra-close ...
A large doughnut shaped cloud appears in the north polar region of Mars around the same time every Martian year and of about the same size. [88] It forms in the morning and dissipates by the Martian afternoon. [88] The outer diameter of the cloud is roughly 1,600 km (1,000 mi), and the inner hole or eye is 320 km (200 mi) across. [89]
Named after the Roman god of war, it is often referred to as the "Red Planet" [1] [2] because the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere , having surface features reminiscent both of the impact craters of the Moon and the valleys, deserts, and polar ice caps of Earth .
The maps below were produced by the Mars Global Surveyor ' s Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter; redder colors indicate higher elevations.The maps of the equatorial quadrangles use a Mercator projection, while those of the mid-latitude quadrangles use a Lambert conformal conic projection, and the maps of the polar quadrangles use a polar stereographic projection.
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Chart of lunar maria with lines of longitude and latitude. The prime meridian is the centre of the near side of the Moon.. A planetary coordinate system (also referred to as planetographic, planetodetic, or planetocentric) [1] [2] is a generalization of the geographic, geodetic, and the geocentric coordinate systems for planets other than Earth.