Interactive lesson "Exploring Mars" with elements of virtualization

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is half the size of the Earth, in terms of size, Mars occupies the seventh, penultimate place. Earth and Mars seem to be racing around the Sun. But the earth is moving faster. A Mars year is almost twice as long as an Earth year. Earth overtakes Mars every two years. At this time, the planets are at their closest distance and Mars is much better visible from Earth, which has helped astronomers in the study of this distant planet for many centuries.

Occasionally, dust storms occur on Mars that can last for months. This means that there are huge sandy deserts on the planet, which is why it has a light orange color. Since ancient times, this planet was called red. The ancient astronomers therefore named her after their ferocious god of war, who was always depicted in red robes.

With a telescope, dark spots can be seen on the surface of Mars. Scientists have agreed to call them seas. There is very little water on Mars, and it is mostly frozen. White ice caps lie at the poles of Mars. Their thickness reaches 2.5 km. It's very cold on Mars. The temperature never rises above 0°C. At night, frost reaches minus 100 ° C. Mars is further from the Sun than Earth and receives much less heat. The sky on Mars is orange. Scientists have a lot of valuable information about Mars thanks to spacecraft that circled this planet, photographing it. Some devices even descended to the surface, took soil samples, which were then delivered to scientists. The rovers took a lot of pictures, and astronomers were able to make detailed maps of the Martian surface. There are many craters and mountains on Mars. Some of them rise above the surface by more than 20 km. For example, the Martian Mount Olympus is considered the largest mountain in the solar system, its height is 27 km. The highest mountain on Earth - Everest - does not even reach 9 km.