Mars: the Red Planet

Mars is the 4th planet from the Sun.

It is 228 million kilometres from the Sun.

Mars is smaller than Earth but it has about the same land area as Earth.

There are no oceans on Mars.

Time taken to orbit the Sun: 687 days.

Mars has 2 moons.

What is it like on Mars?
The surface is a cold desert. There are volcanoes, mountains, valleys, and vast plains.

Mars is named after the Roman god of war. Its two moons are named after the horses, Phobos and Deimos, said to pull the god's chariot.

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Spacecraft from Earth have landed on Mars.


 kidcyber has located these useful websites about the planet Mars

StarChild: a learning centre for young astronauts. Go to http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/ and search for Mars:

See views of Mars from Viking 2 space probe.http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/mars/mars.html

Lots of information about Mars, and information about some of the space explorations from Earth http://www.solarsystem.org.uk/mars/

http://www.marsnews.com/focus/mars/

A sundial on Mars! The Mars Exploration Rovers will put it there and send pictures to Earth. http://athena.cornell.edu/kids/sundial.html

If you use any part of this in your own work, acknowledge this source in your bibliography like this:
Thomas, R. & Sydenham, S. Mars [Online] www.kidcyber.com.au (2007)

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Updated March 2009 ©www.kidcyber.com.au