Distance from the Sun: 227,943,824 km
Martian Year: 687 Earth days.
Martian Solar Day: 24 Hrs 39 Min 36 sec.
Martian Sidereal Day: 24 Hrs 37 min 22 sec
Astronomical Mars
Mars is the 4th planet from the sun, 2 planets closer than us. It is one of the 7 planets that can be seen from the sky with the naked eye, looking like an extra big bright star with an orange color to its light. One will have the easiest time seeing Mars in the sky when it is in opposition to the sun, leaving plenty of light to shine and stand out. This occurs about once every 26 months. This planet is the second smallest planet being just a little bit larger than Mercury, and it is currently stale and dry and likely inhabits little to no life on its surface. Despite this factor though, Mars does share quite a few features with Earth. Some of these things include the 24 hour solar day, seasonal weather patterns, polar ice caps, volcanoes, and canyons. The Martian day is about the same as ours so the rotating spin of the planet would be about the same as Earth, but its orbit around the sun is almost twice as long making a martian year almost two years in our time.
When Mars was first seen visually well enough to create a map of it in the 1800s based on clearer views with a telescope, the people had developed a theory that there was indeed life possibly living upon the planet in the media culture. It started to become a common flare in the media to have stories about Martians, although there is no proof yet today of any life similar to us on any other planets. With talk of hopes to have life on the planet Mars seems to have started to come back to the surface again with the new reality show of those hoping to be the first to live on Mars.
On Mars there is something else quite interesting. Recently NASA had done an experiment with a rover in which they played sound to see how it would react. They found that with Mars’ atmosphere being so much less dense, that sound travels slower and when listening, it sounds more muffled if you can hear it at all. On our planet Earth sound travels at about 760 mph whereas on Mars sound travels at about 540 mph, so sound would take longer to reach your ears. This could cause being present on Mars to be a fairly quiet experience.
There is so much more to be known on Mars as what I go over is a small scratch of the surface overview. If you wish to learn more I have a couple links the bottom under my references where you can dive even deeper into getting know Mars if you wish.
Time line of Mars
1609 -German Astronomer Johannes Kepler uses the naked eye observations of Mars, made by
his Danish colleague Tycho Brahe, to deduce its laws of motion and pave the way for
later to come gravitational theory of our solar system
1610 - Italian Astronomer Galileo Galilei has made the first telescopic observations of Mars
1659 - Christiaan Huygens made the first known accurate drawing of Mars including the large
dark spot known as Syrtis Major
1666 - The polar caps of Mars were for the first time noticed by Italian born-French
astronomer Gian Domenico Cassini. Cassini also measure the rotation of Mars that was
previously noticed by Huygens in 1659 and measured this rotation to be 24 hours and 40
Minutes. Later he was found to be in error by 3 minutes. Still impressively close to the latter
to be found at an accurate time.
1780 - German-born British Astronomer William Herschel measured the tilt of Mars's
rotational axis and first discussed the seasons of Mars. William Herschel also first
noted the tenuous martian atmosphere.
1830 - First known map of Mars was made by German astronomers Wilhelm Beer and
Johannes Heinrich Von Mäder
1877 - Asaph Hall of the U.S. Naval Observatory discovered that Mars has two natural satellites.
1877 - Italian Astronomer Giovanni Birginio Schiaparelli made the first modern version of the
map of Mars that includes the basis of the system of nomenclature
1894 - American Astronomer Percival Lowell established America's oldest observatory in
Flagstaff, Arizona that was dedicated specifically to Mars and establishing its canal
and forming more accurate maps of Mars until his death in 1916.
1898 - Irish Scientist Goerge J. Stoney questioned William Hershal’s theory that Mar’s caps
were made of water ice, just like Earth’s. Stoney disagreed with Hershal and theorized
that the polar caps of Mars were frozen carbon dioxide rather than frozen water.
1947 - Dutch-American Astronomer Gerald Kuiper brought evidence to further support
George Stoney in his theory that the polar caps of Mars are frozen carbon dioxide with
an experiment that showed that there is carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of Mars.
1966 - American Scientists Robert Leighton and Bruce Murray published the results of the
numerical model of the thermal environment of Mars that raised considerable doubt
about the water ice cap theory.
1969 - Twin Mariner 6 & 7 spacecraft flew by Mars to collect thermal and spectral
measurements to confirm the paper theorized measurements that Robert Leighton and
Bruce Murray had initially proposed.
References
Britannica
Belton, Michael J.S. , Carr, Michael H. and Malin, Michael C.. "Mars". Encyclopedia Britannica, 19 Feb. 2024,
https://www.britannica.com/place/Mars-planet. Accessed 19 March 2024.
Mars (NASA)
https://science.nasa.gov/mars/
Son of Mars
Mars Communications Manager: Claire Powell;NASA Official: Debra Hernandez;Site Manager: Melody
Ho;Editor: Jane Platt;CL#: 19-6952
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/participate/sounds/?playlist=earth&item=ocean&type=mars