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Mars is the fourth planet from the
Sun. It is 141 million miles away from the
Sun. It has two moons. A year on Mars is 687
Earth-days long. One day is about the same as on Earth: 24 ½ hours
long.
Mars is about half the size of Earth. Only
Mercury is smaller. Because Mars is smaller than Earth, its gravity
is also less. If you weighed 100 pounds on Earth, you'd weigh about
38 pounds on Mars.
Mars' surface looks like a red desert. There are
mountains, canyons, and craters. There are no rivers or oceans. It
is a dry planet without any liquid water. It does have ice caps at
the north and south poles. Some of this ice is frozen carbon
dioxide.
Mars has tall mountains and deep canyons. The
soil is full of rust-colored iron dust. This makes Mars look red. It
was named by the ancient Romans for their god of war. It is very
cold on Mars.
Mars has very little atmosphere. Its atmosphere
is only about 1% as dense as Earth's. There is enough atmosphere to
cause clouds and winds. Strong winds blow and cause big dust
storms.
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