Credit: J. Bell (Cornell U.), M. Wolff (SSI) et al., STScI, NASA
Mars, the angry red planet named for the Roman god of war, has long been a planetary candidate to shelter extraterrestrial life. From the 19th century observation of canals (which turned out to be an optical illusion) to the mid-20th century War of the Worlds radio broadcast of invading Martians to recent images of faces and creatures in the rocky landscape, there is something about Mars that has given humans hope that we are not the sole occupants of our solar system.
Credit: Mars Exploration Rover Mission, Cornell, JPL, NASA
Images of the Martian surface are coming back from NASA's Exploration Rovers and the European Space Agency's Mars Express. What's interesting about these images is that it's not at all hard to imagine walking around in this landscape. Dusty and rocky, it brings to mind a desert - not so different from Earth.
Credit: Mars Exploration Rover Mission, Cornell, JPL, NASA
The image above not only shows sandy dunes, but clouds in the Martian sky. It might be easy to imagine walking around, but you better bring your own air. The atmosphere is almost all carbon dioxide. Clouds can be composed of carbon dioxide ice or water ice.
Credit: G. Neukum (FU Berlin) et al., Mars Express, DLR, ESA
While there is no liquid water on Mars, there is water ice near the poles. This Mars Express image of a region near the north pole, taken from orbit, shows white areas of ice and steep cliffs almost 2 km (1.2 miles) high. Back in August 2003, Mars passed as closely as it had to Earth in 60,000 years. I grabbed my binoculars to get a look. There it was, red and strangely large. It gave me an odd feeling to see it, something I've also felt when viewing a lunar eclipse. There was an uneasiness, almost a primal reaction to something unusual going on in the night sky. It was some vestige of an ancient response to natural phenomena that were uncommon and not well understood, the kind of response that no doubt led to some action to appease the gods.
To see more images of Mars, go to the Astronomy Picture of the Day link and search for Mars. You'll find pictures of a dust devil, a two-toned rock and other unusual features of the Martian surface.
"Mars is there, waiting to be reached." - Buzz Aldrin
