Earth and Mars

                              Earth and Mars

     Earth,our home, is the third planet from our sun. It is the only planet in our solar system that can sustain life. Because of where Earth is placed in the solar system, it has a temperature where organisms can live and flourish in. Earth is about 150,000,000 kilometers away from the sun. Earth was formed about 4 and a half billion years ago. This planet is made up of layers. The inner layer is called the core. The next layer is called the mantle. Then there's the crust and finally a layer called the lithosphere, which is a thin piece of Earth. The lithosphere is divided up into tectonic plates which moves. The moving motion causes earthquakes. (The lithosphere is usually located at the bottom of the oceans.) Earth has only one satellite and it's known as the moon. (duh.) Earth takes about 365 days in order to complete a whole rotation around the sun. This planet is the largest terrestrial planet. 
     Mars, also known as the Red Planet, is the fourth planet from the sun. It's called the Red Planet because of all the iron elements on the surface of the planet which gives it a red color. Mars has a thin atmosphere causing it to have a lot of craters, holes, on its surface. This planet has two, irregularly shaped  moons: Deimos and Phobos. Mars' rotation and tilt around the sun is similar to Earth's which means that Mars have seasons almost the same as our planet. The Red Planet is the second to smallest planet on our solar system. (Smallest planet is Mercury. Go check out my other post about it!) Mars have almost the same insides as of Earth; The both have a core and a mantle. It's distance from the sun is about 228,000,000 km. away. Mars is home to the second largest mountain and it has some of the largest canyons  in our solar system. Mars was named after the Roman god of war. (Greek god of war name: Ares.)