Hittites, Ancient Greece, Assyrians, Babylonians, And Phoenicians
Image Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech. Known to Babylonians 3,600 years ago as “Star that...
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Transcript of Image Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech. Known to Babylonians 3,600 years ago as “Star that...
Known to Babylonians 3,600 years ago as “Star that Wandered”
The Greeks referred to it as “Ares” the god of War
Romans called it Mars
Distance from Sun ≈1.52 times as far as Earth
Time to Orbit the Sun ~ 26 Earth months Atmosphere ~ Mostly carbon dioxide Martian Day ~ 24.7 hours Temperature on the planet’s surface
hardly rises above freezing point
EarthEarth MarsMars
RadiusRadius 6378 km6378 km 3397 km3397 km
DensityDensity 5515 kg/m5515 kg/m33 3933 kg/m3933 kg/m33
GravityGravity 9.8 m/s9.8 m/s22 3.72 m/s3.72 m/s22
YearYear 365.25 days365.25 days 686.98 days686.98 days
EccentricityEccentricity 0.0170.017 0.0940.094
DayDay 24 hours24 hours 24 hr 39 min24 hr 39 min
ObliquityObliquity 23.45º23.45º 25.19º25.19º
Surface Color: “Red” Features
Impact Craters Largest volcano in the
solar system(Olympus Mons)
Largest Canyon in the Solar System(Valles Marineris)
Ancient river channels Lava Rocks Dust: Reddish from
volcanic rock
Valles Marineris
Image Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech
Unbreathable Thin Dusty, makes the sky pinkish, lots of dust
storms Surface Pressure: 1/150th of Earth’s (only
5.6 millibars) Composition: 95% CO2, 3% N, 1.5% Ar,
0.1% O2, 0.03% H2O
Mars has two tiny moons named “Deimos” (Panic) & “Phobos” (Fear)
The moons are irregular and very small in size Phobos 27x22x18 km Deimos 15x12x10 km
The moons are probably asteroids captured by Mars
Deimos Phobos
Image Courtesy of NASA
Water is the key to life as we know it The north and south poles of Mars are
covered with thick ice or frost Some astronomers about 100 years ago
thought there were canals on Mars dug by intelligent civilization
Space probes to date have not found any traces of canals on Mars
Pathfinder in 1997 Roving vehicle –
Sojourner to explore Martian surface
Image Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech
Mars Global Surveyor Accomplishes all
the tasks of its mission
And still going
Image Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech
Discovered subsurface water ice near poles
Track changes of polar ice, clouds and dust storms
Generated maps of radiation and minerals
Image Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech
Spirit Landed January 3,
2004 Opportunity
Landed January 24, 2004
Image Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech