When Will Mars Be Closest to Earth Again

Key Facts & Summary

Due to its brightness and closeness to Earth, Mars has been documented for at least iv.000 years thus it is impossible to credit someone with its discovery. However, the first person to observe Mars with a telescope was Galileo Galilei in 1610.
It is named after the Roman god of war due to its scarlet appearance. In different cultures, Mars represents masculinity, youth and its symbol is used every bit the symbol for the male gender.
Due to the effects of the fe oxide prevalent on Mars's surface, it has a reddish appearance distinctive amidst the astronomical bodies visible to the naked eye.
Information technology is a terrestrial planet with a sparse temper, having surface features reminiscent of both the bear on craters of Earth's Moon, and the valleys, deserts and polar ice caps of Earth.
Mars is 227.ix million km / 141.6 one thousand thousand mi or i.v AU away from the Sun. It takes sunlight about 13 minutes to achieve Mars.
The uttermost altitude from World is 401 million km / 249 million mi, and its closest distance to the states can be 54.6 one thousand thousand km / 34 million mi, while the average distance is 225 meg km / 140 one thousand thousand mi.
Mars has a radius of three.389 km or 2.105 mi beingness twice every bit small-scale as Earth.
The diameter of Mars is half dozen.779 km or four.212 mi, slightly more than half the size of Globe.
Mars's mass is 6.42 x 10²³ kilograms, about 10 times less than Earth.
Mars has a volume of ane.6318 10 10¹¹ km³ (163 billion cubic kilometers) which is the equivalent of 0.151 Earths.
The gravity on Mars is well-nigh 38% of Earth's gravity.
Mars has a density of 3.93 g/cm³, lower than Earth's density, indicating that its core region contains lighter elements.
1 rotation/day on Mars is completed within 24.6 hours while a whole trip around the Sun or year, is completed inside 669.half-dozen days.
Mars's axis of rotation is tilted 25.2 degrees like to Earth which has an axial tilt of 23.4 degrees.
Mars has seasons though they last longer than on Earth since Mars takes longer to orbit the Sun. The seasons vary in length due to Mars'due south elliptical, egg-shaped orbit around the Sun.
Bound in the northern hemisphere (autumn in the southern) is the longest flavour lasting 194 days. Autumn in the northern hemisphere (spring in the southern) is the shortest at 142 days. Northern winter (southern summer) lasts 154 days while northern summer (southern winter) lasts 178 days.
On boilerplate, the temperature on Mars is virtually -80 degrees Fahrenheit / -60 degrees Celsius. In winter, about the poles temperatures tin get down to -195 degrees F / -125 degrees C.
From fourth dimension to time, winds on Mars are strong enough to create dust storms, covering most of the planet while taking months for all the dust to settle, a swell impediment for space probes.
Its atmosphere is mostly composed of carbon dioxide, nitrogen and argon gases.
Mars has the tallest volcano/mount in the entire Solar System, named Olympus Mons at a height of 13 miles / 21 kilometers and also the biggest canyon Valles Marines.
Mars has 2 moons named Phobos and Deimos. Interestingly Jonathan Swift wrote about these moons in his book "Gulliver'southward Travels" – what is strange is that these moons weren't even discovered in that menstruum of time. They were discovered 151 years later subsequently the book was written.
Mars does not have any rings but information technology is estimated that its moon Phobos will crash into Mars in near 50 million years, maybe creating a ring system afterwards.
Mars doesn't have a magnetic field merely certain areas are highly magnetized, indicating traces of a magnetic field from 4 billion years ago.
Information technology lacks an active plate tectonic system.
Through continuous observations and analysis, information technology is strongly believed that Mars was once very similar to Earth, possessing water or even whole oceans. Contempo studies indicate that it may accept water even now.

Mars

Mars has been observed by many unlike cultures from around the globe since hundreds of years. Because of this it is incommunicable to credit anyone with its discovery, Mars being easily visible with the naked eye.

Observations date back to ancient Egyptian astronomers in the 2^nd millennium BCE while Chinese records nearly the motions of Mars appeared before the founding of the Zhou Dynasty in 1045 BCE.

Detailed observations were made even by the Babylonians who developed arithmetic techniques to predict the future position of the planet while the aboriginal Greeks developed a geocentric model to explicate the planets motions.

To the ancient Romans, the planet Mars was symbolic of blood and state of war, the equivalent of the Greek god of war Aries. In the sixteen^th century, Nicolaus Copernicus proposed a heliocentric model for the Solar Organization in which the planets follow circular orbits around the Sun.

Johannes Kepler revised this creation, yielding an elliptic orbit for Mars that more accurately fitted the observational data. In 1610, Galileo Galilei first observed Mars with a telescope and within a century, astronomers discovered several features of Mars and determined the planet's rotational menstruum and axial tilt.

The idea of life on Mars started a long time ago, and in a style this helped fuel the drive for searching it upon Mars. Since 1877 onward, it was mistakenly thought that h2o was plant on Mars and later the idea of life became popularized among the public.

Percival Lowell believed he could come across a network of canals on Mars simply they were proved to be optical illusions. Since so, many more details about the planet were gathered both exciting and disappointing, and the presence of today'due south robots on the planet are a attestation of the volition of the people who wish to finally find a trace of life on Mars, fifty-fifty if it means finding prove of past life.

Germination

It is hypothesized that the Solar System formed from a giant rotating ball of gas and dust known as the pre-solar nebula. Much of it formed the Sun while more than of its grit went on and merged to create the first proto-planets. Mars was i of these planets and after the gravity pulled enough swirling gas and dust, it became the 4th planet from the Sun.

Altitude, Size and Mass

Mars is about 227.ix million km / 141.vi million mi or 1.5 AU away from the Sunday. Information technology takes sunlight about 13 minutes to reach Mars. The diameter of Mars is half dozen.779 km or iv.212 mi, slightly more than than one-half the size of Earth.

In a manner, its bore is about the width of the continent of Africa. Mars's mass is half-dozen.42 x 10²³ kilograms, about 10 times less than Globe and a volume of 1.6318 ten 10¹¹ km³ (163 billion cubic kilometers) which is the equivalent of 0.151 Earths. Its entire surface area is similar to that of all the Globe's continents combined

Orbit and Rotation

I rotation/twenty-four hours on Mars is completed inside 24.6 hours while a whole trip around the Sunday or yr, is completed within 669.six days.

Mars has a relatively pronounced orbital eccentricity of about 0.09. Of the 7 other planets in the Solar System, only Mercury has a larger orbital eccentricity. It is known that in the past, Mars had a much more circular orbit. At i point, 1.35 million Earth years ago, Mars had an eccentricity of roughly 0.002, much less than that of Earth today.

Information technology is believed that the closest distance betwixt Earth and Mars will continue to mildly decrease for the side by side 25.000 years.

Centric tilt

Mars's axis of rotation is tilted 25.ii degrees similar to World which has an axial tilt of 23.4 degrees. Information technology has seasons though they last longer than on Earth since Mars takes longer to orbit the Dominicus. The seasons vary in length due to Mars'due south elliptical, egg-shaped orbit effectually the Sun.

Construction

It is estimated that Mars has a dense core with a radius betwixt 930-1.300 miles / 1.500 – two.100 kilometers. It is made upward primarily of iron and nickel with well-nigh sixteen-17% sulfur. The iron sulfide core is thought to be twice as rich in lighter elements then Earth'due south core.

The core is surrounded by a silicate mantle which formed many tectonic plates and volcanic features on the planet that at present appear to be fallow.

Besides silicon and oxygen, the nigh abundant elements in Martian chaff are fe, magnesium, aluminum, calcium and potassium, an boilerplate thickness of the planet'due south chaff has been estimated to be about l km / 31 mi, with a maximum thickness of 125 km / 78 mi. In comparing, Earth's average chaff is about 40 km / 25 mi.

Magnetosphere and Atmosphere

It is estimated that Mars lost its magnetosphere around iv billion years ago. A possible reason for this is considering of numerous asteroid strikes and the solar current of air interacting straight with the Martian ionosphere, lowering the atmospheric density by stripping away atoms from the outer layer.

The atmosphere of Mars consists of about 96% carbon dioxide, one.93% argon and 1.89% nitrogen, along with traces of oxygen and h2o. It is quite dusty. Recently methane has too been detected in the atmosphere, values of which signal an agile source of gas that should be present exist information technology biological or non-biological.

Climate

If Mars had an Earth-like orbit, its seasons would be like to Earth's considering its centric tilt is similar to Earth's. Jump in the northern hemisphere (autumn in the southern) is the longest season lasting 194 days. Autumn in the northern hemisphere (spring in the southern) is the shortest at 142 days. Northern wintertime (southern summer) lasts 154 days while northern summer (southern wintertime) lasts 178 days.

On average, the temperature on Mars is well-nigh -80 degrees Fahrenheit / -60 degrees Celsius. In winter, near the poles temperatures can get down to -195 degrees F / -125 degrees C. Mars has the largest dust storms in the Solar System, reaching speeds of over 160 km/h (100 mph). These can vary from a storm over a small area, to gigantic storms that cover the entire planet. They tend to occur when Mars is closest to the Sun, increasing global temperature.

Surface and Geology

Though information technology is often referred to as the Red Planet, Mars actually has many colors. At the surface colors such as brown, gold and tan are present. Its surface is the same size as Globe'due south dry lands combined, even though it is ii times smaller.

Mars has many evidences of a watery by, with ancient river valley networks, deltas and lakebeds, likewise as rocks and minerals on the surface that could simply have formed in liquid water. Some features suggest that Mars experienced huge floods about iii.v billion years agone.

Hydrology / Topography / Volcanoes

Though liquid water cannot exist on the surface of Mars due to depression atmospheric pressure, which is less than i% that of Earth's, except for short periods, the volume of h2o ice caps appear to be made largely out of water with a volume of water ice enough to cover, if melted, the entire planetary surface to a depth of xi meters or 36 ft.

At that place are landforms visible that strongly suggest that liquid water has existed on the planet's surface like hematite concretions (image to a higher place), or the Ma'adim Vallis, a valley of near 700 km / 430 mi thought to have been carved past flowing water long ago.

Near the northern polar cap is the 81.4 km / fifty.half dozen mi wide Korolev Crater, where it was found to be filled with about 2.200 cubic km / 530 mi of water ice.

There are two permanent polar ice caps on Mars. During winter, the pole'south lay in continuous darkness and causing depositions of 25-30% of the atmosphere into slabs of carbon dioxide dry out ice.

When they are exposed over again to sunlight the carbon dioxide sublimates and sometimes create h2o-ice clouds. Both polar caps consist primarily of water ice, nigh 70%.

The dichotomy of Martian topography is striking, northern plains flattened past lava flows contrast with the southern highlands, pitted and cratered by ancient impacts.

Mars is scarred by a number of impact craters: a total of 43,000 craters with a diameter of 5 km (3.ane mi) or greater accept been constitute. The largest confirmed of these is the Hellas impact basin, a lite albedo feature clearly visible from World.

The volcano Olympus Mons, is an extinct volcano in the vast upland region Tharsis, which contains several other large volcanoes. Olympus Mons is even so the greatest, in fact information technology is the largest volcanoe detected in the entire Solar System, it has about 3 times the peak of Mountain Everest.

The big coulee, Valles Marineris too known as Agathadaemon in the one-time canal maps, has a length of four,000 km (2,500 mi) and a depth of upwards to 7 km (4.3 mi). The length of Valles Marineris is equivalent to the length of Europe and extends across ane-5th the circumference of Mars. By comparison, the Yard Canyon is just 446 km (277 mi) long and virtually 2 km (i.2 mi) deep. Valles Marineris was formed due to the swelling of the Tharsis area, which caused the crust in the area of Valles Marineris to plummet.

Information technology is 10 times longer and 10 times wider than the Grand Canyon. Mars also has sand on its surface, made upward from basaltic rock, thus having a grey color.

When the wind blows, dunes are created including series of parallel ridges in crater floors, also horseshoe-shaped dunes are created. Mars too has dust devils, towering vortices of current of air similar to tornadoes. When the dust devils blow the cherry-red dust around on the greyish basaltic plains, they tin can go out behind complex and cute curlicues.

Mars actually has avalanches. Cliffs towering above the surface that hold different materials can be dislodged in the spring when carbon dioxide thaws, creating tremendous cascades of rock and dust.

Moons

Mars has only 2 known moons named Phobos and Deimos after the horses that pulled the chariot of the god of war Mars. They are very small though, Phobos has a diameter of most 25 km or xv.5 mi, while Deimos just 15 km or 9.3 mi. They look very much like asteroids and it is strongly believed that they have been captured past Mars gravity from the nearby asteroid belt.

Phobos orbits Mars only six.000 km or three.728 mi over the surface, moving so rapidly in its orbit that it orbits faster than Mars rotates. Tides from Mars are likewise altering its orbit, slowly lowering Phobos closer and closer to the surface. Information technology is believed that in a few million years Phobos will driblet low plenty that it volition actually enter the atmosphere and touch on the surface.

Life Habitability

On June 7, 2018, NASA announced that the Curiosity rover had discovered organic compounds in sedimentary rocks dating to three billion years old, indicating that some of the building blocks for life were present.

In July 2018, scientists reported the discovery of a sub-glacial lake on Mars, the start known stable trunk of h2o on the planet. It sits i.five km (0.9 mi) below the surface at the base of operations of the southern polar ice cap and is about 20 km (12 mi) broad. Out of all the planets in the Solar Organization, Mars appears to have the highest change of having life forms but still the conditions are harsh enough that nothing should be able to survive in that location, perhaps only beneath the surface.

Still, regardless of its habitability now, Mars was definitely once a planet filled with oceans and the correct weather condition of life. Well-nigh people would be happy if we could only detect prove of life that may have existed on the Red Planet.

Futurity plans for Mars

Future astrobiology missions are planned, including the Mars 2020 andRosalind Franklin rovers. They have the mission to take soil samples and return them to Earth for farther analysis. If we wait into Mars's history, it is one of the most actively observed planets in the Solar Organization and chances are it will remain and then for a long time.

In that location are many plans for Mars, including terraforming and sending people on information technology, but it remains to be seen, hopes are high and missions continue.

Did you know?

- Mars is the most intensely studied planet with observations dating back to 4.000 years ago.

- It is about 50% further from the Sunday than World.

- Peradventure 2d only to Venus when it comes to "visits", Mars has been visited over 16 times over about 39 attempts with the start successful mission happening in 1965 with the Mariner iv spacecraft flyby.

- If you counterbalance 100kg on Earth, on Mars your weight would exist 38kg.

- Mars is the outermost terrestrial planet, outside Earth'south orbit.

- Theoretically, Mars is populated past robots since we sent then many there.

- Mars has captured our imagination so much, that information technology has spanned countless adaptations on TV, literature and information technology may as well be the nearly popular planet after Earth.

- On Mars the Lord's day appears about half the size as it does on Earth.

- Pieces of Mars have fallen to Earth. Scientists take plant tiny traces of Martian atmosphere within meteorites violently ejected from Mars, and then orbiting the solar system amidst galactic droppings for millions of years, before crash landing on Globe.

- A year on Mars is almost twice as long as a year on Globe.

- Information technology would take more than six Mars to fill up the book of World.

- Most 7 million Mars tin fit in the Lord's day.

- The Mars One project hopes to colonize the Red Planet, offset in 2022.

Source:

[1.] Wikipedia

[ii.] NASA

Paradigm source:

[1.] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/OSIRIS_Mars_true_color.jpg

[ii.] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliocentrism#/media/File:Heliocentric.jpg

[3.] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mars,_Earth_size_comparison.jpg

[iv.] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Marsorbitsolarsystem.gif

[five.] https://sites.google.com/site/missiontomarsatvssec/domicile/mission-background-briefing-students/earth-vs-mars/construction-of-the-earth

[half-dozen.] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USGS-MarsMap-sim3292-20140714-ingather.png

[vii.] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Spirit_Mars_Silica_April_20_2007.jpg

[viii.] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nasa_mars_opportunity_rock_water_150_eng_02mar04.jpg

[9.] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma%27adim_Vallis

[10.] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Perspective_view_of_Korolev_crater.jpg

[11.] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Martian_north_polar_cap.jpg

[12.] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PIA23304-Mars-ImpactCrater-Sep2016-Feb2019.jpg

[thirteen.] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Olympus_Mons_alt.jpg

[14.] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valles_Marineris#/media/File:Mars_Valles_Marineris.jpeg

[15.] https://www.theatlantic.com/scientific discipline/annal/2016/05/mars-ice-historic period/484541/

vargasfortard.blogspot.com

Source: https://nineplanets.org/mars/