History of Mars observation
The history of Mars observation is about the recorded history of observation of the planet
The first
Yellow clouds on Mars have been observed since the 1870s, which
Earliest records
The existence of Mars as a wandering object in the night sky was recorded by ancient Egyptian astronomers. By the 2nd millennium BCE they were familiar with the apparent retrograde motion of the planet, in which it appears to move in the opposite direction across the sky from its normal progression.[2] Mars was portrayed on the ceiling of the tomb of Seti I, on the Ramesseum ceiling,[3] and in the Senenmut star map. The last is the oldest known star map, being dated to 1534 BCE based on the position of the planets.[2]
By the period of the
Chinese records of the appearances and motions of Mars appear before the founding of the Zhou dynasty (1045 BCE), and by the Qin dynasty (221 BCE) astronomers maintained close records of planetary conjunctions, including those of Mars. Occultations of Mars by Venus were noted in 368, 375, and 405 CE.[6] The period and motion of the planet's orbit was known in detail during the Tang dynasty (618 CE).[7][8][9]
The early
Orbital models
The Greeks used the word planēton to refer to the seven celestial bodies that moved with respect to the background stars and they held a
Aristotle, a student of Plato, observed an occultation of Mars by the Moon on 4 May 357 BCE.[13] From this he concluded that Mars must lie further from the Earth than the Moon. He noted that other such occultations of stars and planets had been observed by the Egyptians and Babylonians.[14][15][16] Aristotle used this observational evidence to support the Greek sequencing of the planets.[17] His work De Caelo presented a model of the universe in which the Sun, Moon, and planets circle about the Earth at fixed distances. A more sophisticated version of the geocentric model was developed by the Greek astronomer Hipparchus when he proposed that Mars moved along a circular track called the epicycle that, in turn, orbited about the Earth along a larger circle called the deferent.[18][19]
In
In the 5th century CE, the
Astronomia Nova (1609)
|
Modern opposition computations |
These charts show the direction and distance of Mars relative to the Earth at the center, with oppositions and apparent retrograde motion approximately every 2 years and closest oppositions every 15–17 years due to Mars' eccentric orbit. |
In 1543, Nicolaus Copernicus published a heliocentric model in his work De revolutionibus orbium coelestium. This approach placed the Earth in an orbit around the Sun between the circular orbits of Venus and Mars. His model successfully explained why the planets Mars, Jupiter and Saturn were on the opposite side of the sky from the Sun whenever they were in the middle of their retrograde motions. Copernicus was able to sort the planets into their correct heliocentric order based solely on the period of their orbits about the Sun.[22] His theory gradually gained acceptance among European astronomers, particularly after the publication of the Prutenic Tables by the German astronomer Erasmus Reinhold in 1551, which were computed using the Copernican model.[23]
On October 13, 1590, the German astronomer Michael Maestlin observed an occultation of Mars by Venus.[24] One of his students, Johannes Kepler, quickly became an adherent to the Copernican system. After the completion of his education, Kepler became an assistant to the Danish nobleman and astronomer, Tycho Brahe. With access granted to Tycho's detailed observations of Mars, Kepler was set to work mathematically assembling a replacement to the Prutenic Tables. After repeatedly failing to fit the motion of Mars into a circular orbit as required under Copernicanism, he succeeded in matching Tycho's observations by assuming the orbit was an ellipse and the Sun was located at one of the foci. His model became the basis for Kepler's laws of planetary motion, which were published in his multi-volume work Epitome Astronomiae Copernicanae (Epitome of Copernican Astronomy) between 1615 and 1621.[25]
Early telescope observations
At its closest approach, the
In 1644, the Italian Jesuit
After Cassini became the first director of the
In 1704, Italian astronomer
Geographical period
At the start of the 19th century, improvements in the size and quality of telescope optics proved a significant advance in observation capability. Most notable among these enhancements was the two-component
Working at the
Father Secchi produced some of the first color illustrations of Mars in 1863. He used the names of famous explorers for the distinct features. In 1869, he observed two dark linear features on the surface that he referred to as canali, which is Italian for 'channels' or 'grooves'.
At the
A particularly favorable perihelic opposition occurred in 1877. The English astronomer
In August 1877, the American astronomer
Martian canals
During the 1877 opposition, Italian astronomer
In his 1892 work La planète Mars et ses conditions d'habitabilité, Camille Flammarion wrote about how these channels resembled man-made canals, which an intelligent race could use to redistribute water across a dying Martian world. He advocated for the existence of such inhabitants, and suggested they may be more advanced than humans.[61]
Influenced by the observations of Schiaparelli,
Beginning in 1901, American astronomer
Starting in 1909 Eugène Antoniadi was able to help disprove the theory of Martian canali by viewing through the great refractor of Meudon, the Grande Lunette (83 cm lens).[68] A trifecta of observational factors synergize; viewing through the third largest refractor in the World, Mars was at opposition, and exceptional clear weather.[68] The canali dissolved before Antoniadi's eyes into various "spots and blotches" on the surface of Mars.[68]
Refining planetary parameters
Surface obscuration caused by yellow clouds had been noted in the 1870s when they were observed by Schiaparelli. Evidence for such clouds was observed during the oppositions of 1892 and 1907. In 1909, Antoniadi noted that the presence of yellow clouds was associated with the obscuration of albedo features. He discovered that Mars appeared more yellow during oppositions when the planet was closest to the Sun and was receiving more energy. He suggested windblown sand or dust as the cause of the clouds.[70][71]
In 1894, American astronomer
Using a vacuum
In 1927, Dutch graduate student Cyprianus Annius van den Bosch made a determination of the mass of Mars based upon the motions of the Martian moons, with an accuracy of 0.2%. This result was confirmed by the Dutch astronomer
During the 1920s, French astronomer
The first standard nomenclature for Martian albedo features was introduced by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) when in 1960 they adopted 128 names from the 1929 map of Antoniadi named La Planète Mars. The Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN) was established by the IAU in 1973 to standardize the naming scheme for Mars and other bodies.[86]
Remote sensing
The International Planetary Patrol Program was formed in 1969 as a consortium to continually monitor planetary changes. This worldwide group focused on observing dust storms on Mars. Their images allow Martian seasonal patterns to be studied globally, and they showed that most Martian dust storms occur when the planet is closest to the Sun.[87]
Since the 1960s, robotic
The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has been used to perform systematic studies of Mars[92] and has taken the highest resolution images of Mars ever captured from Earth.[93] This telescope can produce useful images of the planet when it is at an angular distance of at least 50° from the Sun. The HST can take images of a hemisphere, which yields views of entire weather systems. Earth-based telescopes equipped with charge-coupled devices can produce useful images of Mars, allowing for regular monitoring of the planet's weather during oppositions.[94]
X-ray emission from Mars was first observed by astronomers in 2001 using the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and in 2003 it was shown to have two components. The first component is caused by X-rays from the Sun scattering off the upper Martian atmosphere; the second comes from interactions between ions that result in an exchange of charges.[95] The emission from the latter source has been observed out to eight times the radius of Mars by the XMM-Newton orbiting observatory.[96]
In 1983, the analysis of the
Observations
See also
- Exploration of Mars
- Mars in history
- Mars lander
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- Snyder, Dave (May 2001). "An observational history of Mars". Retrieved 2012-06-16.