Is Earth or Mars bigger?

Have you ever wondered the difference in the size of the planets ? Our distance from the other planets means that we are not able to know for sure what their real dimension is, and much less, compared to our own planet. The Earth is the third planet of the solar system and Mars the fourth, so they orbit the galaxy closely, which has led to numerous scientific studies being carried out on the Martian planet. To find out if Earth or Mars is bigger, we advise you not to stop reading the following .com article. Below we give you all the data that will determine which of the two planets occupies more space in the Solar System.

The size of the Earth

To answer the question of whether the Earth or Mars is larger, we must first know the particularities of both planets. To begin, you must know that the surface of our planet is 509, 903, 550 square kilometers, a figure verified by various scientific studies, while its diameter measures 12, 756 kilometers.

As you know, the Earth occupies the third position within the Solar System, that is, it is the third planet that is closest to the Sun. Mars occupies the fourth position but, even so, it is not the planet closest to Earth. If we wanted to travel from the Earth's surface to the red planet it would take 39 days in a ship that was 58, 000 km / h, like the one that NASA sent to Pluto in January 2006.

Its actual distance varies according to the time of year and how close both planets are in the translation period, but it has been calculated that the average distance between Mars and Earth is 225 million kilometers, which will surely distort our vision and perspective and it will be difficult to know which of the two planets has a larger size.

The size of Mars

After centuries and centuries of observations and calculations, it was determined that the red dot that is sometimes seen with chaotic movements in the sky is not one more star, but rather it is another planet in the solar system. Of the fourth, neither more nor less, the planet Mars correlative to the Earth.

The Martian planet has turned out to be a fascinating world for many scientists who have dedicated much of their time to study the characteristics of this very close planet. And Mars is very similar to Earth, although with notable differences - starting with its mass, which represents one tenth of the Earth, and ending with its size that is almost half that of our planet.

So to the question of which has larger size of the two, we can determine that the Earth is bigger than Mars . Specifically, the equatorial diameter of Mars is 6, 794 kilometers while that of the Earth is 12, 756 kilometers, twice as much.

In short, you should know that Mars is almost half the Earth, specifically, occupies 53% of the earth's surface, which means, in addition, that its gravity is much lower than in the blue planet.

In this other article we tell you how are the planets of the solar system.

Similarities and differences between Earth and Mars

The Earth is the third planet that makes up the Solar System, while Mars is the fourth, that means that the distance between one and another is relatively short, although it is an indicator of notable differences between both.

The temperature also varies on both planets. Mars, being farther from the Sun than our planet, has a much colder temperature of -46ºC specifically, compared to the Earth's average of 14.05ºC. Several studies conducted on the Martian planet have determined that water has been found on its surface, however, frozen by high temperatures and concentrated in the polar ice caps.

Its great mass of ice has created craters and valleys in which sunlight never reaches. This is also different from Earth, which has a large body of water in a liquid state, perhaps due to its proximity to the sun and its high temperatures, and which is distributed in different seas, oceans, lakes and rivers. Of course, if something has both planets in common is that the ice mass is always concentrated at the poles.

Another great difference between both planets of the Solar System is undoubtedly the colo, which can be seen with the naked eye. While the Earth stands out for its blue tone - 70.8% of the surface is covered with water - and its brown, green flashes - that identify the continents - and white for the clouds that move in the atmosphere, Mars presents a reddish color and brown, due to the oxides that predominate on its surface, and darker areas that confirm the existence of deep craters. Thus, we commonly know Earth as the blue planet and Mars as the red planet.

Finally you should know that they also differ in rotation and translation . While Earth turns around in 24 hours, Mars takes a little longer, specifically 24 hours 41 minutes and 19 seconds. Also, the planet Earth takes 365 days to make a complete return to the sun, while the orbit of Mars takes 687 Earth days, which would be twice as long as our planet.