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| (Image courtesy of hubble.org) |
EPISODE IV
MARS
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| (Image courtesy of space.com) |
Named after Mars (the Roman God of War), this planet is the fourth rock from the Sun in our Solar System.
Mars is half the size of Earth, with a third of Earth’s mass, and with only 37% gravity, This means we can jump three times higher on Mars than on Earth. Its revolution around the sun is completed every 1.88 years--almost twice as slow as the Earth's 365 days.
Most popularly known as The Red Planet, Mars gets its rusty red orange color on its surface from iron oxide.
Mars has two, tiny asteroid-sized moons called Phobos and Deimos. Phobos orbits the planet at such a low altitude that it’s going to eventually be torn apart by the gravity of Mars. It will survive as a ring for a few years, and then the debris will rain down on Mars.
Like Earth, Mars has seasonal changes because the tilt of their axis is very similar. But because it takes twice as long for Mars to orbit the Sun, each season is twice as long as Earth's.
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| Mars' Largest Volcano: OLYMPUS MONS |
Olympus Mons is the largest volcano on Mars, and is also the largest mountain in the Solar System, rising up 27 kilometers above the surrounding plains. Olympus Mons is a shield volcano, like Hawaii’s Mauna Kea, and formed gradually over billions of years. Some lava flows on the volcano are so young that planetary scientists think it might still be active. The Valles Marineris--the deepest canyon on any planet in the Solar System, was caused when volcanoes erupting around it tore up the land, leaving a huge valley. If it were on Earth, it would stretch across the United States
Mars is a dead planet. To find out how long it has been dead, check out the meteorite impacts on the surface of the planet. Venus and earth have smoother surfaces because they have newer surfaces formed by geological activities. Rocks from Mars have landed on earth from meteorite or asteroid impacts with Mars' atmosphere trapped in them. This is how our scientists were able to study Mars' atmosphere before we sent our spacecraft there in 1965. Ejected meteorites can orbit the solar system for millions of years before they finally crash down on other worlds.\
Mars has two, tiny asteroid-sized moons called Phobos and Deimos. Phobos orbits the planet at such a low altitude that it’s going to eventually be torn apart by the gravity of Mars. It will survive as a ring for a few years, and then the debris will rain down on Mars.
Mars has two, tiny asteroid-sized moons called Phobos and Deimos. Phobos orbits the planet at such a low altitude that it’s going to eventually be torn apart by the gravity of Mars. It will survive as a ring for a few years, and then the debris will rain down on Mars.
Like Earth, Mars has north and south polar caps, which are made of a mixture of water, ice, and carbon dioxide. Scientists don’t really know if life ever existed on Mars, but it is a terrestrial planet, just like Earth.
Rivers, lakes, and maybe even oceans, with blue skies, existed on Mars millions of years ago, but now is a dry and dusty desert, and it is unlikely that it had grass and plants. Today, Mars is too cold and dry, and its atmosphere is too thin to support life as we know it on its surface. Water still could exist underground, but it is no longer detectable on the planet's surface.
If you tried to stand out on the surface of Mars without a spacesuit, you would die almost immediately. The freezing cold temperatures would be a problem, but even worse is the thin atmosphere. The air pressure at the surface of Mars is only 1% the pressure we enjoy here on Earth. And the atmosphere on Mars consists of 95% carbon dioxide, 3% nitrogen, 1.6% argon and trace amounts of water and oxygen
Mars is the most studied planet in our Solar System. To date, NASA has three spacecrafts on the surface of Mars (Spirit, Opportunity rovers, and Phoenix Mars Landers). NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft (one of the three orbiters) has detected huge deposits of water underneath the soil at the northern polar cap in the form of ice. It has all the tools on board to analyze the water ice to see if has any traces of current or ancient life.
Rivers, lakes, and maybe even oceans, with blue skies, existed on Mars millions of years ago, but now is a dry and dusty desert, and it is unlikely that it had grass and plants. Today, Mars is too cold and dry, and its atmosphere is too thin to support life as we know it on its surface. Water still could exist underground, but it is no longer detectable on the planet's surface.
If you tried to stand out on the surface of Mars without a spacesuit, you would die almost immediately. The freezing cold temperatures would be a problem, but even worse is the thin atmosphere. The air pressure at the surface of Mars is only 1% the pressure we enjoy here on Earth. And the atmosphere on Mars consists of 95% carbon dioxide, 3% nitrogen, 1.6% argon and trace amounts of water and oxygen
Mars is the most studied planet in our Solar System. To date, NASA has three spacecrafts on the surface of Mars (Spirit, Opportunity rovers, and Phoenix Mars Landers). NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft (one of the three orbiters) has detected huge deposits of water underneath the soil at the northern polar cap in the form of ice. It has all the tools on board to analyze the water ice to see if has any traces of current or ancient life.
With NASA’s endeavor to plant the Mars Science Laboratory on the Red Planet to search for past and current evidence of life, one day, we could finally step foot on its red surface. Who knows…maybe even within our lifetime. How exciting!
Debunking the Hoax
About the Two Moons on August 27, 2011
On August 27, 2003, the orbital dynamics of Mars and Earth brought the two planets to a close encounter (34.6 million miles) of the rarest kind. . .like once in 60,000 years. Mars appeared so bright and huge it competed against the brightest stars in the sky. This historical event of galactic proportion became one of the most exciting events in recent times, and it won’t be repeated till probably another 60,000 years. (Would the earth even exist then, or would it even have any human population then?)
The spectacle precipitated an avalanche of emails to propagate throughout the Internet beginning in 2004, declaring the appearance of two moons in the sky. And almost every year since, the news becomes viral on the Internet with the circulation of emails and the appearance of two moons, including this coming Saturday, August 27. Goodness gracious, how many times can a once-in-a-60,000-year event happen during this century?
It's a hoax, yes...it's a hoax. Yet, people keep the phones at the planetariums busy, inquiring if they have any special programs planned for the event.
People find it irresistible to forward the emails to their friends, triggering a chain reaction. Today, it's all over the news once again, and even though the news media warn people that there's no truth to the two-moon story, the emails still proliferate. Incredibly, most people I've talked to either believe it, or have never heard of it.
The truth is, even though Mars is twice the size of the moon, it will never appear as large as the moon because of the distance that separates the Earth from Mars. And this week, the moon is 198 million miles away from Earth--about 163 million miles difference from the one in 2003, and much dimmer. Venus still dominates the sky in its brilliance and size, which you will find southwest of the moon, and Mars is just about 3 degrees northeast of it. Mars is 250 times less bright than Venus, so you’d need a pair of binoculars to see it.
Will my eyes be exploring the night sky comes August 27th? Of course. It's what I do every night.
Disclaimer and Credits: I am not a scientist; I am not even a pseudo-scientist. Because of my unquenchable thirst for knowledge about many subjects, including space and science, I read, I read, and I read. The common knowledge stored in my memory bank are frequently supplemented through research. Thanks for the Internet, this endeavor is now much easier than it used to be. I no longer have to spend hours and hours in public libraries to do my research because a lot of what I want is right at my fingertips. Some of my favorite sites (thank you) are: Universe.Com, Science.Com, Wikipedia.Com, and NewScientist.Com.
