🪐 Planet
Mars
The red planet, with the tallest volcano in the solar system.
- Size
- 6,800 km across, 53% as wide as Earth
- A day lasts
- 24.7 hours
- A year lasts
- 687 Earth days
- Moons
- 2
- Average temperature
- −65 °C
- Gravity
- 0.38× Earth’s
- From the Sun
- 230 million km
📍 Where is it now?
Seen against the stars of Cancer, 220 million km from Earth. Its light takes 12 minutes to reach us.
Did you know?
- Its red colour comes from rusty iron in the dust.
- Olympus Mons, a volcano on Mars, is about two and a half times taller than Mount Everest.
Photographed or visited by
Hubble Space Telescope
Thirty-six years above the weather, and still working.
Sojourner
The first wheels on another planet, the size of a microwave.
Spirit
Sent for ninety days, worked for six years.
Opportunity
Drove a marathon on Mars, on a ninety-day warranty.
Curiosity
A nuclear-powered laboratory the size of a car.
Perseverance
Collecting Mars, a tube at a time, for someone to fetch.
Compare Mars with EarthSide by side, to scale, in the app
More NASA photos of MarsStraight from NASA’s image library, in the app
Explore more
All of solar system
Mercury
The smallest planet, and the closest to the Sun.
Venus
The hottest planet, hidden under thick clouds.
Earth
Our home, the only world known to have life.
Jupiter
The biggest planet, with a storm larger than Earth.
Saturn
The ringed giant, light enough to float in water.
Uranus
The ice giant that rolls around the Sun on its side.