The rusty world is full of mysteries—and some of the solar system's most extreme geology. Learn more about Earth's smaller, colder neighbor.
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Plus you can learn more about what’s in our Solar System with our Top 10 Facts on the Sun and the Moon; the planets Earth, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus more »
Earth is the only planet not named after a god. The other seven planets in our solar system are all named after Roman gods or goddesses. Although onlyMercury,Venus,Mars,JupiterandSaturnwere named during ancient times, because they were visible to the naked eye, the Roman method of naming pl...
Learn more about our planet’s origins, its current state, and what the future may hold. Plus you can learn more about what’s in our Solar System with our Top 10 Facts on the Sun and the Moon; the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune and the dwarf ...
Fact 3.Because of its lower gravity, a person who usually weighs 100 kilograms while on earth would only weigh about 38 kilograms while on the surface ofMars. Fact 4.With a mass of about 318 Earths, the planet Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system. It is so large, it is...
The Curiosity Mars rover's first color photograph of a sunset in 2015 revealed a surprising twist — sunsets on Mars are blue. 美国宇航局表示,这是由于火星大气层的尘埃颗粒较小,散射蓝光的能力强于长波颜色(如黄色、橙色、红色)。 NASA said this is because "dust in the Martian atmosphere has fine...
Mars’ rotation axis is 25 degrees inclined about the plane of its circle around the sun. Another resemblance with Earth is the axial angle of 23.4°. Mars, like Earth, has distinctive seasons, although they stay longer since Mars takes more time to circle the sun (due to its greater dist...
Astronomers further classify stars by such characteristics as their rotation rates, and metallicity (how many elements heavier than hydrogen and helium they contain). In addition, they use some other specific information about their luminosity or the existence of exotic chemical elements in the star’...
6. Venus has a bizarre rotation: Venus not only rotates backwards compared to the other planets, but it rotates very slowly. In fact, a day on Venus (243 days) lasts longer than it takes the planet to orbit around the Sun (225 days). Even more strangely, therotation appears to be sl...