Mars Size report
Mars is the fourth closest planet to the sun and the second-smallest planet in the solar system after Mercury. It is one of the four terrestrial planets in the solar system. When people describe the size and other characteristics of Mars, they always describe the planet through various factors. A set of numbers cannot give the size of Mars.
Mars has an orange-red appearance because the surface is covered by iron oxide. The diameter of Mars is 6,770 kilometers, which is about 53% of the earth's diameter, and its surface area is about 15 China's size. Mars' rotation axis inclination and rotation period are similar to earth's, but the revolution period is twice that of the earth. Mars can be as bright as -2.9 mag, but it is dimmer than Jupiter most of the time.
Humans have never stopped exploring the solar system's planets over the decades. Mars has four orbiting probes launched by NASA and Europe, and there are multiple rovers on its surface. Thanks to the efforts of scientists and astronauts, we have gradually gained more accurate knowledge about Mars. You can find more interesting facts about Mars-size by reading the following article.
Mars Size and Descriptions
Sometimes Mars was called the Red Planet. It is named after the Roman god of war. Mars is a small planet, larger than only Mercury and slightly more than half the size of earth. It has an equatorial radius of 3,396 km (2,110 miles) and a mean polar radius of 3,379 km (2,100 miles). Check the following table to get more details.
Planetary data for Mars
The specific size of Mars has been changing. And it has been rotating, so the distance to the earth and the sun has also been changing.
| mean distance from Sun | 227,943,824 km (1.5 AU) |
| eccentricity of orbit | 0.093 |
| inclination of orbit to ecliptic | 1.85° |
| Martian year (sidereal period of revolution) | 686.98 Earth days |
| visual magnitude at mean opposition | −2.01 |
| mean synodic period | 779.94 Earth days |
| mean orbital velocity | 24.1 km/sec |
| equatorial radius | 3,396.2 km |
| north polar radius | 3,376.2 km |
| south polar radius | 3,382.6 km |
| surface area | 1.44 × 108 km2 |
| mass | 6.417 × 1023 kg |
| mean density | 3.93 g/cm3 |
| mean surface gravity | 371 cm/sec2 |
| escape velocity | 5.03 km/sec |
| rotation period (Martian sidereal day) | 24 hr 37 min 22.663 sec |
| Martian mean solar day (sol) | 24 hr 39 min 36 sec |
| inclination of equator to orbit | 25.2° |
| mean surface temperature | 210 K (−82 °F, −63 °C) |
| typical surface pressure | 0.006 bar |
| number of known moons | 2 |
Mars features
Despite its small size, Mars has many interesting features. The Martian atmosphere is dominated by carbon dioxide, with a density of about 95.3%, which makes it cold on Mars. There are impact craters, canyons, dunes, gravel, and no stable liquid water. The southern hemisphere is an ancient highland full of impact craters, while the northern hemisphere is a relatively young lowland plain. Olympus Mons is the tallest mountain in the Solar System, and Valles Marineris is the deepest valley. Mars is home to hundreds of thousands of impact craters. Northern Polar Basin-Borealis Basin is largest at 10,500 km, and Hellas Basin at 2,100 km is the third largest.
According to the observational evidence, Mars has been observed to be similar to the phenomenon of groundwater gushing. The Antarctic ice cap has partially retreated, and radar data show a large amount of water ice under the surface of the poles and mid-latitudes.
In addition to the extremes in topography, Mars is a world of weather extremes. Overall, it is an icy world with an average surface temperature of about -47°C. During the summer, near the equator, the temperatures can reach nearly 20°C during the day but drop to -90°C at night. That 110° change in temperature can drive winds that come to tornado speeds.
Mars Size Compared to Earth
For comparison, Mars has 53% of the diameter of Earth. It has about 38% of the surface area of Earth. That sounds small, but that is equal to the total dry land here on Earth. The volume of Mars is equal to 15% of Earth's, and the Red Planet's mass is 11% of Earth's. As you can see, Mars is a small world, the second smallest in the Solar System.
Mars (diameter 6790 kilometers) is only slightly more than half the size of Earth (diameter 12750 kilometers). Note the difference in color between the two planets. Almost 70% of Earth's surface is covered by liquid water. In contrast, Mars now has no liquid water on its surface and is covered with bare rock and dust.
| Earth | Mars | |
|---|---|---|
| Average Distance from Sun | 93 million miles | 142 million miles |
| Average Speed in Orbiting Sun | 18.5 miles per second | 14.5 miles per second |
| Diameter | 7,926 miles | 4,220 miles |
| Tilt of Axis | 23.5 degrees | 25 degrees |
| Length of Year | 365.25 Days | 687 Earth Days |
| Length of Day | 23 hours 56 minutes | 24 hours 37 minutes |
| Gravity | 2.66 times that of Mars | 0.375 times that of Earth |
| Temperature | Average 57 degrees F | Average -81 degrees F |
| Atmosphere | nitrogen, oxygen, argon, others | mostly carbon dioxide, some water vapor |
| Number of Moons | 1 | 2 |
The closest distance between Mars and the Earth is about 55 million kilometers, and the farthest distance is more than 400 million kilometers. Close contact between the two occurs approximately once every 15 years. In 1988, the distance between Mars and the Earth reached about 58.8 million kilometers, and in 2018 the distance between the two reached 57.6 million kilometers. But on August 27, 2003, the distance between Mars and the Earth was only about 55.76 million kilometers, the most recent time in 60,000 years.
As you can know, the size of Mars is a minor fact amongst all of the interesting facts that you can discover about the Red Planet, but, hopefully, it is enough to get you to do more research after reading the above post.
