Welcome to the Mars page.

The planet Mars is the fourth planet from the sun at a distance of approximately 143 million miles or 230 km. It is about 4,000 miles or 6,800 km. This makes it the third smallest planet in the solar system. Due to its atmosphere it is difficult to get clear pictures of Mars because you are photographing through two atmospheres, Earth's and Mars'. Mars is also home to the largest planetary volcano, Olympus Mons. Because of its jagged edges an terrain its dimensions are hard to determine precisely. The best estimates are that it is 340 miles or 550 km across and 13 miles or 21km tall. Mar' day is about a half an hour longer than ours although its year almost 2 of ours. The picture on the left shows what s called the Martian dychotomy. A defined division between the northern and southern hemisphere where there is an elevation difference between the hemispheres of about 8.5 miles or14km. The picture on the right shows  a dust storm twice the size of the United states covering Mars in 2022. Many of the Martian surface rovers had to enter "safe" mode because not enough sun could reach their solar panels to maintian battery charge.