Translations:AY Honors/Stars/Planet characteristics/4/en
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in our solar system. Mars is also known as "The Red Planet" due to the reddish appearance it has when seen from Earth at night. Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos, which are small and oddly-shaped and are possibly captured asteroids. Until the first flyby of Mars by Mariner 4 in 1965, it was thought that Mars had channels of liquid water. We now know that these channels do not exist. Still, of any planet in our solar system after the Earth, Mars is the most likely to harbor liquid water. It is the only planet besides Earth that has seasons. It also has a rotational period nearly the same as our own. It has the highest mountain in the solar system, Olympus Mons, the largest canyon in the solar system, Valles Marineris, and polar ice caps. Water was discovered on Mars in 2015.
