Just how much do you know about the Red Planet? Think it's similar to Earth? You might be surprised to see just how alike they are. You also might be surprised by their differences. See for yourself below!

 
How does Mars compare with Earth?
MARS EARTH
distance from Sun 227.9 million km 149.6 million km
distance from Earth
48.6 million miles
0
length of day (Earth units) 24 hours 37 minutes 23 hours 56 minutes
length of year (Earth units) 687 days 365.26 days
diameter 6786 km 12,756 km
mass 11% of Earth's 1
gravity 38% of Earth's 1
color reddish-orange blue and while
temperature -125º to +22º C
-194º to +72º F		 -88º to +57.7º C
-127º to +136º F
moons
2
1
rings
0
0
atmospheric composition
thin carbon dioxide
78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen,
1% other gases
atmospheric pressure 0.5% of Earth's 1 atmosphere
tilt of rotation axis 25.2º 23.5º

 
 
And if that's not enough to whet your appetite, check out the links below.

 

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/marsfact.html
 

http://planetary.org/rrgtm/mars-about.html
 

http://planetary.org/rrgtm/mars-facts.html
 
 

Contact the longhorns in space at lis@zircon.as.utexas.edu