Star date: 01:12:99

Unwrapping the Mysteries of Mars

Mars has always presented the human race with mysteries. Ever since the first humans (or perhaps proto humans) noticed this bright red light in the sky moving against the so called "fixed stars" we have looked on this planet with wonder. The distinct red color reminded the ancients of blood. Both the Greeks and later the Romans named this planet after their rerespective Gods of war.

The astronomer Percival Lowell believed that he saw channels of water across the face of the planet. He chose to name them using the Italian word for channel, canali. This was then badly mistranslated back into English as canal. Of course the word canal denotes an artificial water channel, and this can only happen in the presence of intelligent life. Thus started the modern obsession with intelligent life on Mars.

After the rumors of the "discovery" of intelligent life on Mars, no one became more obsessed with the idea than Lowell himself. The "canals", however, turned out to exist only in the mind of Lowell. Seventy years ago, Orson Wells read the H.G. Wells classic novel "The War of the Worlds" on radio, panicking many people throughout the country. The idea that advanced Martians were invading New Jersey made many people stay at their radios, gathering the latest "news" of the invasion. Grovers Mill, New Jersey became a household word within an hour.

In many ways, Mars can be thought of as Earths "twin" planet. Although Venus is much closer to the Earth in size and mass (and therefore density), Mars provides a much more habitable enviornment than does Venus. Although not compatible with human life, Mars is not the sizzling inferno of Venus. Temperatures on Mars can get as warm as a winter day in New England, although that is not saying much as I sit here in the middle of winter in New England. The atmosphere is only about 1/100 of the density of Earths atmosphere, and is composed of 95% carbon dioxide. Compare this with the atmosphere on Venus which is 90 times denser than that on Earth, and temperatures of around 900 degrees F.

The early fascination with the red planet has never died. We still look today for signs of life, however humble, from the face of Mars. In the 1970's, the Viking space probes landed on the face of the planet and tested for life. The results were inconclusive, but seemed to point to the idea that there was no earthlike life in the samples tested. The search, however, has continued.

Last year, the adventures of a little robot that could, Sojourner, engulfed the human mind. The web site which contained the first images from this robotic adventurer was inundated with tens of thousands of hits per hour. Two weeks ago, NASA launched the first new space voyager of the year, Mars Polar Observer. This craft will reach Mars later this year, and orbit Mars from pole to pole in order to map the entire surface of the planet. Paired with this is another probe which will land on Mars, and release a twin to Sojourner.

Also included in this mission are two subsurface explorers which will crash into the surface of Mars at around 650 km/hr (400 MPH) and hopefully return data to the Earth from a depth of about a meter (3-4 ft) beneath the surface of the red planet.

Mars also has two strange, small potato shaped moons called Phobos and Diemos. Phobos is only about 20 km (12 1/2 miles) across, and Diemos is a tiny 12 km (7 1/2 miles) across. Phobos orbits very close to Mars and would appear from the surface of Mars to be about 1/4 of a degree across, or about 1/2 as wide across as the Moon appears from Earth. Diemos is 3 times further away (and smaller), and would appear only 1/15 of the apparent diameter of Earths moon. This is 1/30 of a degree across.

The red color of Mars is due to the crust being composed of about 25% iron oxide, commonly known as rust. Not as exotic as blood, of course, but nearly as familiar.

Look for Mars in the morning sky this week, due south at 5:45 am, and 40 degrees above the horizon. About 4 degrees from Mars is one of the brightest stars in the sky, Spica.

My thanks to Ted Johnson from The Cheshire County (NH) Vocational Center for his inspiration for this weeks article. Clear skies, and good viewing.

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