Mars, Page 1: [Next Page] [Class Home Page] Textbook pages 119 -130

MARS



We have yet to find evidence of life on Mars.. However, Life may have existed in the past. Life may exist now, perhaps deep underground. The geology of Mars should sound familiar: Volcanism, wind, ice and water-related erosion and geology, and evidence of past impacts (craters).

Pictures from the surface show a desert like landscape, drifts and dunes of sand, scattered with larger rocks. Click HERE for a high resolution image of the Mars Surface taken with the Mars Pathfinder..
Temperature?A warm summer day in the South, maybe 65 F! But the average temperatures is -80 F.
Atmosphere? Very dry. Primarily CO₂. 1/100th the density of Earth's. *Little* Ozone. Lots of UV light gets through!
Mar's Day and Year? About the same as Earth: 24.6 hours. Being 1.5 times further from the Sun (and moving on a slower orbit), a Mar's year is 686 (Earth) days = 1.9 (Earth) years.
Seasons? YES! Mars is tilted 25^o, similar to Earth's 23.5^o. Only the orbit is not as Circular: Mars is closest to Sun during Southern Summer, making Southern Winter very cold. Northern climate more moderate.

Mars and the Cincinnati Observatory
The Cincinnati Observatory, completed in the early 1840s, was used by its directory, O. M. Mitchel, to make this image of Mars. In his popular book, Astronomy, Mitchel said,
``The reddish tint which marks the light of Mars has been attributed by Sir John Herschel to the prevailing color of its soil, which he considers the greenish hue of certain tracts to distinguish them as covered with water. This is all pure conjecture, based upon analogy and derived from our knowledge of what exists in our own planet. If we did not know of the existence of seas on the earth, we could never conjecture or surmise their existence in any neighboring world. Under what modification of circumstances sentient beings may be placed, who inhabit the neighboring worlds, it is vain for us to imagine.
It would be most incredible to assert, as some have done, that our planet, so small and insignificant in its proportions when compared with other planets with which it is allied, is the only world in the whole universe filled with sentient, rational, and intelligent beings capable of comprehending the grand mysteries of the physical univers.''