Mars' History and Future Events
Category: Other
Updated: 31 May 2018
The history of Mars, as well as the present and future events to come.
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Created byTaiming YuenJames
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Egyptians named Mars "Har Decher" - the red one.Babylonians named Mars "Nergal" - a great hero and king of conflicts.The Greeks names Mars "Ares" - the god of war, and the Romans "Mars" - also the god of war.Johannes Kepler, (1571-1630) a student of Tycho Brahe, publishes “A New Astronomy”, which details his first two laws of planetary motion.Kepler assumes Mars has an elliptical orbit.The classical believe that orbit was perfectly circular was popular during this time.Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) becomes first to use a primitive telescope to observe Mars.Christiaan Huygens (1692 – 1695) calculates Mars has a 24-hour time period.Christiaan draws Mars with an advanced telescope of his own design.Christiaan records a large, dark spot on Mars (Syrtis Major). He notices the same spot appear the next day.Giovanni Cassini (1625 – 1712) observes that Mars has a rotational period of 24 hours and 40 minutes, with the actual time being 24 hours and 37 minutes.Huygens is the first to notice a large white spot at the South Pole (southern polar cap).Huygens publishes Cosmos Theros, one of the first describing the possibility for extraterrestrials, and the requirements of a planet to support life.Giancomo Miraldi observes “white spots” at the poles, and finds that the southern cap is not centered on the rotational axis.Miraldi wonders, correctly, if Mars’ ice caps contain water, similar to Earth.Sir William believe all planets were inhabited and that there were even intelligent beings living underneath the surface of the sun.Mars is in opposition, and closer to earth than ever until 2003. Due to this opposition, the brightness in the sky causes panic (the reflection of the Sun’s rays off Mars back to earth).Sir William Herschel (1738– 1822), the Royal British astronomer, studies Mars with telescopes he built himself.Sir William wrote a paper titled “On the remarkable appearances at the polar regions on the planet Mars, the inclination of its axis, the position of its poles and its spheroidal figure; with a few hints relating to its real diameter and atmosphere”. The book declares the axial tilt was 30°, will the current value is 25.19 degrees.Sir William mistakenly assumed that the dark spots on Mars were oceans and later regions land.Honore Flaugergues, a French amateur astronomer, notices yellow clouds (dust clouds) on the surface of Mars. He notices that Martian ice caps melt significantly during spring, and incorrectly concludes Mars is hotter than Earth.Wilhelm Beer (1797– 1850) and Johann von Maedler (1794 – 1874) observe malls over a periods of 759, 1604, and 2234 days and find that it has a rotation period of 24 hours 37 minutes and 22.6 seconds. Beer’s estimation is surprisingly close to the commonly accepted 24 hours 37 minutes and 22. 663 +/- 0.002 seconds.Angelo Secci (1878 – 1881), draws Mars and calls Syrtis Major the “Atlantic Canal”.When two faint stars passed near Mars with no effect on the brightness , he correctly assumed that Mars had a tenuous or small atmosphere. He also peculated that Martian inhabitants enjoyed a similar situation to that on earth.Frederick Kaiser (1862), calculated the rotational period of Mars to be 24 hours 37 minutes and 22.62 seconds.Richard Anthony Proctor publishes a map of Mars detailing its oceans and continents. It uses 0°, 0° meridian.Pierre Jules Janssen (1824 – 1907) and William Huggins (1824 – 1910) make the first unsuccessful attempt to detect water vapor and oxygen using a spectroscopic method.Giovanni Schiaparelli (1835 – 1910) makes a naming system for mapping the features of Mars. “The names are drawn from mythology, history and various names for hell”. He coined the term “canali” to describe the streaks on Mars surface.Canals are wrongly thought to mean canals, implying that Mars had intelligent life.Asaph Hall discovers the moons of Mars. He names them Phobos (fear) and Deimos (fright), which are both horses of the Greek god of war, Ares.Schiaperelli observes “double ‘canali’, to him an example of germination”.Percival Lowel (1855-1916) begins observing Mars at his Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona.Percival Lowel publishes his book, “Mars and its Canals”. His book explains that carbonic acid could not be an option to resemble the canali. “The melting ice caps show that water vapor must be constituent of the Martian atmosphere. Moreover, as the molecular weight of water vapor is less than that of oxygen or nitrogen or carbon dioxide…” Page 168, Mars and its Canals.In the beginning of any explanation of any planet, flybys are necessary to gather information and data on the planet. These flyby’s included Mariner 3-4 and Mariner 6-7. Mariner 3 did not make it due to failure in shroud operation, while Mariner 4, 6 and 7 were successful.Mariner 4Mariner 6-7Mariner 8Mariner 9Viking 1Viking 2Mars OrbiterMars Global SurveyorMars Climate OrbiterMars PathfinderMars Polar Lander and Deep Space 22001 Mars Odyssey – April 7, 2001Spirit and Opportunity Rovers - January 4 and January 25, 2003Mars Express OrbiterPheonix LanderMars Reconnaissance Orbiter – August 12, 2005Curiosity RoverMars Atmospheric and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN)Mars InsightFuture
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