Our fourth planet in the Solar system, is named after the ancient roman god of war, Mars. People also called it the `Red Planet` as its surface if covered by iron oxide (loose dust and rock) which gives it a red bright rust colour surface appearance. During the Solar System's formation, Mars was created out of the protoplanetary disk. Also, Mars has two moons: Phobos and Deimos. Mars’ size is relatively smaller than our Earth and approximately half the size of the Earth; therefore, it takes longer to orbits the Sun(about two Earth years). Mars also has a surface area about the same as the land surface area of Earth. The Earth is about nine times more massive than Mars. Truly, there are some similarities between Mars and Earth which kept our interest to discover this mystery planet over decades. For example,Mars have a relatively thin atmosphere similar to Earth’s. Its atmosphere contains oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitrogen and argon, but proportionally different to our Earth. Moreover, it has similar observable features like volcanoes, valleys, deserts and polar ice caps. Mars’ seasonal cycles are likewise similar to those of Earth as well. These integrated features give rise to our suspect about the past or existing presence of life and many more questions related to its history. As Mars is the neighbour of Earth,its history of ideas about the presence of life has been a controversy issue over decades. Therefore, the research on Mars has never been stopped.
No chance of rains:It never rains on Mars because of the thin atmosphere and the lack of a magnetosphere. A magnetosphere is not important for rain to be present, but it is necessary to shield liquid water from solar radiation. Since the Sun’s radiation and the solar wind are constantly bombarding the planet, liquid water can not exist; therefore, rain can not form nor fall. Occasionally, however, clouds do form and snow does fall. Clouds on Mars are very small and wispy and the majority of them are formed by carbon dioxide ice. Scientists believe that a few are compromised of small water particles. Since Mars is so cold the water in these clouds could never fall as rain, but can fall as snow in the upper atmosphere of the planet.Scientists have only seen this a few times and have no evidence that the snow ever reaches the ground.
Dramatic Forecast:The forecast on Mars is usually dramatic. Mars weather varies quite a bit day to day and, sometimes, hour to hour. That seems a bit unusual for a planet that has an atmosphere that is only 1% as dense as the Earth’s.As a rule, Mars is dry, cold, and clear. In the summer daytime temperatures at the equator can be as warm as 20 C. Nice short sleeve weather and comfortable for most activity. That same night, temperatures can drop to -90 C. The 110 degree difference in one day can create warm and cold temperature fronts that can lead to dust devils and dust storms that can engulf the entire planet for weeks. Winter temperatures can stay as low as -140 C. The carbon dioxide in the atmosphere freezes and becomes dry ice. The Martian North Pole has a one meter layer of dry ice in the winter, while the South Pole is covered by a permanent eight meter deep layer.
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