Mars

Mars, Earth's outer neighbor, is the fourth planet from the Sun. Mars' bright appearance and reddish color stand out in the night sky. Impressive surface features such as enormous volcanoes and valleys are frequently obscured by huge dust storms.

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The uniquely red <a href="/mars/interior/Martian_global_geology.html&edu=elem">global surface</a> of Mars is marked by many interesting features - some like those on the <a href="/earth/earth.html&edu=elem">Earth</a> and others strangely different. The reddish color is caused by rust (iron oxide) in the <a href="/mars/exploring/martian_soils.html&edu=elem">soil</a>. Some of these features are; <a href="/mars/interior/mars_volcanoes.html&edu=elem">volcanoes</a>, canyon systems, <a href="/mars/interior/Martian_running_water.html&edu=elem">river beds</a>, <a href="/mars/interior/Mars_cratered_terrain.html&edu=elem">cratered terrain</a>, and <a href="/mars/interior/Martian_dunefields.html&edu=elem">dune fields</a>. This image shows a global mosaic of 102 Viking 1 Orbiter images of Mars taken in February, 1980.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of NASA.</em></small></p>

Explore Mars

Interior and Surface of Mars

The uniquely red global surface of Mars is marked by many interesting features - some like ...Read more

Atmosphere of Mars

The atmosphere of Mars is much thinner than that of Earth, with a surface pressure averaging ...Read more

Moons of Mars

Mars has two small moons, Phobos and Deimos. The red planet does not have any rings. ...Read more

The Poles of Mars

The North and South Poles on Mars are similar to the polar regions on Earth in many ways. They ...Read more

Planetary Facts

All of the relevant information about Mars collected on one page, including details about size, orbit ...Read more

Myth and Culture

Mars was the son of Jupiter and Juno, and was the Roman god of war. Mars was the lover of Venus ...Read more

Missions to Mars

In the past few decades, the Russian and American space agencies have sent many spacecraft ...Read more

Images and Multimedia

Access wonderful captioned photos and illustrations that will inspire and excite you. ...Read more

Mars Links

These are links to other great web sites about Mars. But beware: you don't want to get caught ...Read more

More about Mars

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Research Highlights

Unprecedented Warming in East Africa's Lake Tanganyika

Lake Tanganyika, the second-oldest and second-deepest lake in the world, could be in for some rough waters. Geologists have determined that the East African rift lake has experienced unprecedented warming...Read more


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