If you’re into science, or even just interested in space, you might be excited to hear that today is Red Planet Day. Celebrated as an educational awareness day, Red Planet Day is all about Mars, the seventh smallest planet in our solar system. In spirit of this, we thought we’d share some fun facts about Mars, as well as this informational video shared below from NASA.
- The gravity on Mars is 0.375 of that on Earth
- The average temperature is -63 degrees Celsius
- A year on Mars is equivalent to 687 Earth days
- Mars is named after the Roman god of war
- Mars is home to the largest volcano in our solar system, Olympus Mons
- Iron oxide is what gives Mars its red appearance
- Mars has two moons
- Mars is roughly half the size of Earth
- Because there is less gravity on Mars than on Earth, you could jump three times higher if you were stood on this planet!
- Mars has the largest dust storms in the solar system
