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MARS

“The Red Planet”. MARS. Introduction. Named after: the Roman God of War Visible to the naked eye Earliest record of observation: circa 1534 BCE, by the Ancient Egyptians Rotation period: roughly 24 hours, 40 minutes

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MARS

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  1. “The Red Planet” MARS

  2. Introduction • Named after: the Roman God of War • Visible to the naked eye • Earliest record of observation: circa 1534 BCE, by the Ancient Egyptians • Rotation period: roughly 24 hours, 40 minutes • Revolution period: 669 Martian days • Axial tilt: 25 degrees • Radius (Polar and equatorial): roughly half of Earth’s

  3. Major Observations of Mars (1) • Observation by Aristotle in 356/7 BCE • Observations by Tycho Brahe in 16th century and by Johannes Keplerbetween 1601-1609 • First telescope observation by Galileo Galilei in 1609 • First sketch of Martian surface by Christiaan Huygens in 1659 • Discovery of Martian seasons in 1719 by GiacomoFilippoMaraldi, confirmed by William Herschel in 1783 • Asaph Hall’s discovery of Phobos and Deimos in 1877 • First map of Martian surface by Giovanni Schiaparelli in the same year • Craters observed in 1892 by Edward Emerson Barnard

  4. Major Observations of Mars (2) • 1894-1909: Percival Lowell and the Martian “canals” • 1938: Orson Welles’ radio production of the “War of the Worlds”, widespread panic • 1952: Gerard Kuiper and the Martian atmosphere

  5. Key Space Missions to Mars • Soviet Marsnik program (failure), 1961 • Mariner 4 (first successful flyby), 1964 • Soviet Mars 2 lander (failure), 1971 • Viking 1 (first successful landing), 1976 • Soviet Phobos 2 (failure), 1989 • Mars Climate Orbiter (failure), 1999 • Spirit and Opportunity (success), 2003

  6. Surface Features • VallesMarineris • Tharsis bulge • Olympus Mons • Cydonia • PlanumBoreum and PlanumAustrale

  7. Atmosphere • 95% Carbon Dioxide • 3% Nitrogen • 2% Oxygen and Water • High wind • No rainfall • Average temperature is 210 Kelvin (-80 degrees Fahrenheit) • Frozen waters below surface (?)

  8. The Moons • Non-spherical • Small sizes • Orbits are very close to Mars • Asaph Hall III • Kepler’s lucky guess

  9. References Books • Schneider, Stephen and Arny, Thomas T. Pathways to Astronomy, Second Edition. New York, McGraw-Hill, 2009. Web Sites • http://www.umich.edu/~lowbrows/reflections/2001/dsnyder.7.html

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