Page 2 Mars - The Cool Planet
Last month we had a quick look at the planet Venus, a seriously uncomfortable place to visit. This month we have a look at Mars, probably the most talked about planet.
Home to so many stories, from Doctor Who to H G Wells, Mars, is a lot more interesting in the real universe, than you might expect. Around 142 million miles away, is very chilly, the warmest day we know of was about 20 degrees centigrade, but it's usually around 55 degrees below zero. Breathing is a problem, the air is mostly Carbon Dioxide. So, why do I think it's an interesting place? Leaving any speculation about microbial life to one side as the jury is still out on that one, it can tell us so much about how planets, including Earth evolved. Recently discovered and confirmed, there are dry river beds, huge ones, so we know Mars once had a very different climate with lots of running water. What happened to it all, and the different atmosphere that must have existed at the time? Understanding things like this may well be key to Earth's and humanity's future. The Mars orbiters and the Curiosity landers are trying to learn the answers to these questions, We won't have all the answers anytime soon, you try landing in, say Yorkshire, and trying to understand the geography of earth. It's a long term project. The lower gravity on Mars is probably responsible for many features. Olympus Mons, the famous volcano around 3 times higher than mount Everest, couldn't exist on Earth, neither could the vast canyon, Valles Marineris, 5 miles deep. The greatest puzzle is this, if Mars has too little gravity to hold a thick atmosphere, how did it get one in the first place? Welcome to astronomy, always more questions than answers. Mars can be seen this month low down in the west, for about 2 hours after sunset, you can't miss it, it's very red. Lastly, something we do know, why is it red? There's a lot of iron in the dust. It's gone rusty!
Charles Oates. Vega Baja Astronomy group. Email us to join at
vegabaja.astronomygroup@
gmail.com.
For more information on the group and meetings please visit:
https://sites.google.com/site/vegabajaastronomy/.
QF Focus Magazine
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32
