Portal:Mars
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Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in our solar system. It is named after the Roman god of war Mars (Ares in Greek mythology) because of its apparent red color. This feature also earned it the nickname "The Red Planet". The prefix areo- refers to Mars in the same way geo- refers to Earth. The astronomical symbol for Mars is ♂, a circle with an arrow pointing northeast. The Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese cultures refer to the planet as 火星, or fire star. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere, having surface features such as craters, giant valleys, and volcanoes. Of all the planets in our Solar System other than Earth, Mars is the most likely to harbor liquid water, and perhaps life. Mars is currently host to several orbiting spacecraft and two rovers, and most recently, a lander searching for water in the north polar region. It has two moons, Phobos and Deimos, which are small and oddly-shaped, possibly being captured asteroids.
Lowell was the descendant of the Boston Lowell family and had a brother and sister. He graduated in 1872 from Noble and Greenough School and Harvard University in 1876. He traveled through the Far East, particularily Korea and Japan. He later became determined to study Mars and its famed canals. He moved to Flagstaff, Arizona, where he drew maps of the canals at Lowell Observatory. In the last eight years of his life, he searched for Planet X. He was buried on Mars Hill. After his death, Clyde Tombaugh would go on to discover Pluto at Lowell Observatory.
Valles Marineris is a vast canyon system that runs along the Martian equator. At 4,500 km long, 200 km wide and 11 km deep, the Valles Marineris rift system is ten times longer, seven times wider and seven times deeper than the Grand Canyon of Arizona, making it the largest known crevice in the solar system.
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- ...that Planum Australe (pictured) was to be explored by the failed Mars Polar Lander?
- ...that Malin Space Science Systems operates the camera on the Mars Global Surveyor?
- ...that CRISM is a spectrometer on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and is used to find minerals on the surface of Mars?
- ...that the Hubble Space Telescope captured a cyclonic storm in Planum Boreum?
2nd
- 2003 – Mars Express is launched.
20th
- 1990 – 5261 Eureka, a Mars trojan, was discovered.
28th
- 1911 – The Nakhla meteorite falls to Earth.
News
- June 11: NASA's Phoenix Lander has an oven full of Martian soil
- June 8: NASA's Phoenix spacecraft having trouble analyzing soil samples
- June 2: Phoenix spacecraft makes first 'impression' on Mars
- June 1: NASA says Phoenix spacecraft may have landed on ice
- May 25: NASA's Phoenix spacecraft lands safely on Mars
- May 22: Signs of ancient hydrothermal vents found on Mars
- December 24: Astronomers say asteroid could hit Mars
- September 24: Seven caves found on Mars: NASA
For more news relating to Mars, please visit Wikipedia's sister site Wikinews.
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