What is the name of the red planet?

What is the name of the red planet? The answer is Mars. Mars appears reddish because iron-bearing minerals in its surface rocks and dust have oxidized, or rusted, over time. Fine iron-oxide dust is lifted into the atmosphere and spread across the planet, giving Mars its distinctive color when viewed from Earth or from spacecraft.

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and a rocky world with a thin atmosphere composed mostly of carbon dioxide. Its surface includes enormous volcanoes, deep valleys, impact craters, polar ice caps, and ancient channels that suggest liquid water once flowed there more extensively than it does today.

The name Mars comes from the Roman god of war, reflecting the planet’s striking red appearance. A common mix-up is confusing Mars with Venus: Venus is sometimes called Earth’s sister planet because of its similar size, but Mars is the world traditionally known as the Red Planet. Mars has two small moons, Phobos and Deimos.