Mars, Red Planet and the Fourth Planet of the Solar System. He has always attracted the attention of people watching the night sky. Mars is in the opposition these days, which brings very good conditions to observe it in the night sky. TASR brings a text selection of the most interesting about this planet.
Mars is the second smallest planet of the solar system after Mercury. It is one of the terrestrial (land similar), although it is significantly smaller than the home planet of humanity – according to the US National Institute for Aviation and Space (NASA), its average is 6779 kilometers, approximately 53 percent of the Earth average.
The day on Mars takes 24.6 hours. The sun orbits a distance of 1.5 astronomical unit, which means that its distance from the Sun is half the earth and the star circulates in 687 days. Its surface has a red tinge because it is covered by iron oxide.
The Earth is overcome by Mars in many respects, but the Red Planet surpasses its blue sister in at least one thing – the number of months. Two natural months of irregular shape – Phobos and Deimos circulate around Mars. Their origin has been discussed for a long time, and the possibility that months may have been in the past the comet -captured gravity of the Red Planet.
Another option is that it is two parts of the originally one body that has torn Mars gravity. Another hypothesis assumes that both months arose after a major impact on the planet, similar to the moon. However, Fobos has a different composition than Mars, so this method of the formation of both bodies is unlikely.
A number of theories about the origin of the Martian months are proof of living interest in this space body and reaches deep into the past. Mars observed and recorded ancient Egyptians in the second millennium BC, although at that time this heavenly object did not call Mars, But the horizon hirus and later Horus red.
The ancient Babylonians created arithmetic tables that allowed them to accurately predict the location of Mars in the future. It was also observed by the ancient Chinese and the Greeks. Hellenic astronomers created a geocentric model to explain his movement in the sky. Later, in the 16th century, it was replaced by a heliocentric model of the Polish astronomer of Mikuláš Kopernik.
The primacy in the observation of Mars telescope belongs, as with Venus, Florentine polyhistor Galileo Galilei – “discovered” it in 1610 and the red planet has since been practically constantly investigated by astronomers. In 1840, thanks to this, the first gross map of its surface was created, which have since been significantly and constantly improved.
At the end of the 19th century astronomers thought that They discovered traces of water in the atmosphere of Mars. PERCival Lowell, who studied Mars at the turn of the 19th and 20th century. In three published books, he claimed that on the surface of Mars he discovered a network of water supply channels from the polar caps to other parts of the planet, thus further popularizing the idea of the existence of life on Mars. Although further scientific research refuted the existence of channels, it turned out that the water once really flowed on Mars.
Geophysicists have discovered an ocean under the surface of Mars, where life could be. However, the water is too deep and it cannot be penetrated to it today, as it is located approximately 11.5 to 20 kilometers below the outer bark of the red planet. However, the amount of water discovered would be enough to pour the surface of Mars with an ocean of approximately 1.6 kilometers.
The presence of water was revealed by scientists on the basis of data collected by the Planetary spacecraft Insight of the US National Aviation and Space Office (NASA) between 2018 and 2022. The study with the results of the examination was published on 12 August 2024 in the PNAS Journal. The results of the study refute the theory that the Martian oceans once evaporated into space and confirm the theory that The water headed in the opposite direction – below the surface of the planet.
The Insight Mission is just one of the many evidence of an extremely intense scientific interest in this planet. Other evidence is not only successful and unsuccessful probes examining the surface of Mars from its orbit since the second half of the 20th century, But also six vehicles (rover), which successfully examined it over the past almost 30 years. The first was Rover Pathfinder, who landed on Mars as part of the Soyourner mission on July 4, 1997. At present, two rights – Curiosity and Perseverance – are active on the surface of Mars.
Mars is considered a candidate for colonization by people, which explains his intense scientific research. However, research missions and possible colonists may endanger asteroids. They pose a danger to the ground, but it is protected by a dense atmosphere in which the vast majority of them burn. Space.com reports that the atmosphere of Mars is up to 100 times lower than the Earth’s atmosphere, Therefore, a significantly larger amount of bodies from space may hit the surface of the red planet.
An example of asteroid danger may be a “Christmas gift” recorded by the Mars Insight landing module. The spacecraft on December 24, 2021 recorded soil shocks (Marsotquence) with magnitude 4.0 caused by the impact of meteorite.
Mars, like other planets, stimulated not only the scientific interest of humanity, but also his imagination and entered his artistic work – for example, writer Edgar Rice Burroughs famous for the authors of the Tarzan’s books, Mars planted a cycle of his novels and stories about John Carter, while while The author of HG Wells in the novel War of the Worlds of 1898 described a fictitious invasion of the Martians on Earth. For example, Mars also played an important role in the Mass Effect video game series from Bioware.
The date of possible colonization of the red planet by humans is still in the starsHowever, it is certain that Mars will continue to fascinate the professional and general public.
