Mars

(mārs.) (Myth.) The Roman god of war, and the son of Jupiter and Juno, identified with the Greek Ares. He ranked next to Jupiter, was one of the three tutelary divinities of Rome, and was believed to be the real progenitor of the Roman people, being said to have been the father of Romulus himself by Rhea Silvia, the prieste of Vesta. M. was generally represented in the naked figure of an old man, armed with a helmet, a pike, and a shield. -(Ast.) One of the superior planets, moving round the sun in an orbit between those of the earth and Jupiter. His mean distance from the sun is about 142,000,000 miles. He performs his mean sidereal revolution in very nearly 687 days. At the beginning of this century his orbit was inclined to the ecliptic at an angle of 1° 51' 6". His diameter is about 4,100 miles. He revolves on his axis in 24 h. 39 m. 218. The outlines of continents and seas maybe distinctly discerned on his surface. His reddish color is most probably due to an ochreous soil, and his seas, by contrast, appear green. His poles seem very white, no doubt from snow, as the whitene is greatest after the long polar winter, and it disappears after long exposure to the sun. 3 moons or satellites to M. were discovered in 1877. [s. 580]