In my last post, I gave some of the strangest facts about Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system and the Juno Spacecraft Mission, which has been revolving around it since 2016. This time, we are going to peep into our neighbourhood - mars, the bright red spot in our sky.

No, we are not going to talk about Lord Hanuman and how lucky you get when this planet homes in on your astrological birth chart. Rather, we will keep our focus on the astronomical sides of Mars.

1) Your weight

The surface gravity on Mars is less than that of Earth’s. To be exact, you will feel 62.5% less gravitation pull on the planet. That means, if you weigh 10 kilograms on Earth, then on Mars, your weight will be somewhere around 4 (3.8) kilograms.

So, if you have been trying to lose weight, you can consider moving to Mars.

2) The name

The planet is named after the Roman God of War, Mars.

The Arabic term for Mars is Cairo. According to popular belief, when the city was being founded, the Red Planet was on the rise in the sky.

But, for the ancient Egyptians, the name of the planet was Her Desher, the Red One.

The Chinese call Mars the Fire Star, as it looks like something is burning up there.

3) The size

The diameter of the Red Planet is 6791 kilometres. It is approximately twice the size of the moon and half the size of Earth’s diameters.

If we go by figures, the moon’s diameter is 3474 kilometres and the Earth’s is 12756 kilometres. So, Mars is twice as big as the Moon and Earth is twice as big as the Mars and four times as big as the moon.

4) The mass and volume

Mars has a weaker gravitation pull than Earth. Why? Because the mass of the second smallest planet in the solar system is one-tenth of Earth. And the volume of the planet is 15 percent of Earth.

Still, the planet looks much like our home on Earth. The landmass composition on Mars is similar to our rocks.

It has water, ice-capped polar regions, canyons, mountains, storms, clouds, weather, and volcanoes. Some Mars Missions also suggest that earthquakes (Marsquakes) are also a thing on the planet. There are signs of flooding, rivers, and oceans.

That’s why space agencies around the world have been scanning through the planet to find traces and possibilities of life on Mars.

5) Emerging from an ice age

The data sent by various Mars exploration missions suggest that the planet is coming out from an ice age. According to scientists, studying the weather of Mars will help us understand the past and future climates of Mars and Earth. The frequent orbital changes cause ice ages at times on the Red Planet.

By the way, the ice age, which Mars is coming out from, was about 400,000 years long.

6) Methane and evidence of life

Without methane, there would be no life on Earth. In 2014, the Mars Curiosity Rover found a burp of methane, which, according to some NASA scientists, could be a hint that Mars once hosted life.

All other conspiracy theories that involve finding creatures on the planet are a Martian distance from the truth.

7) Mountains

Earth is one strange rock. But, how about Mars? I would say Mars is even stranger.

Mars is a rocky planet, and it hosts the largest mountain, Olympus Mons, in our solar system. This 22-kilometer-long shield volcano is three times the height of our own Himalayan peak, Mount Everest.

Olympus Mons is so huge and long that if you choose to hike it one fine day, you would be in outer space by the time you reached its peak. However, there is barely any atmosphere on Mars. You’re already in space when on Mars.

8) Storms

When Mariner 9, one of the early probes sent by NASA, arrived on Mars, it was welcomed by a giant, planet-wide storm.

9) No magnetic field

That’s so magnetic field around Mars! Mars has no inner dynamo that is an essential ingredient for a strong-enough, global magnetic field. The planet has its magnetosphere, but it stands nowhere in front of the Earth’s magnetosphere.

According to studies, there once was a strong magnetosphere, but high-energy particles contained by solar winds from Sun evaporated it from the Red Planet.

However, scientists back here on Earth have developed a system, with which they are planning to shoot a giant magnetic field on Mars in an attempt to make the planet habitable.

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