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Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun.The surface of Mars is orange-red because it is covered in iron(III) oxide dust, giving it the nickname "the Red Planet". [22] [23] Mars is among the brightest objects in Earth's sky, and its high-contrast albedo features have made it a common subject for telescope viewing.
Spotting Mars at opposition is easier than you might think because the planet will stand out due to its color and radiance. Instead of appearing a whitish yellow shade like the stars, it will be a ...
On the other hand, an observer on Mars would see the Moon rotate, with the same period as its orbital period, and would see far side features that can never be seen from Earth. Since Earth is an inferior planet, observers on Mars can occasionally view transits of Earth across the Sun. The next one will take place in 2084.
The large eccentricity causes the insolation on Mars to vary as the planet orbits the Sun. (The Martian year lasts 687 days, roughly 2 Earth years.) As on Earth, Mars' obliquity dominates the seasons but, because of the large eccentricity, winters in the southern hemisphere are long and cold while those in the north are short and relatively warm.
The orbiter launched to Mars in 2013 to study how the red planet has lost its atmosphere over time and how space weather generated by the sun interacts with the upper Martian atmosphere.
The studies compared data collected by the lander with impact craters spotted by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The spacecraft has orbited Mars since 2006.
The common surface features of Mars include dark slope streaks, dust devil tracks, sand dunes, Medusae Fossae Formation, fretted terrain, layers, gullies, glaciers, scalloped topography, chaos terrain, possible ancient rivers, pedestal craters, brain terrain, and ring mold craters.
The atmosphere of Mars has been losing mass to space since the planet's core slowed down, and the leakage of gases still continues today. [ 4 ] [ 8 ] [ 9 ] The atmosphere of Mars is colder than Earth’s owing to the larger distance from the Sun, receiving less solar energy and has a lower effective temperature , which is about 210 K (−63 °C ...