All About Mars

More experiments will be done by future missions to Mars. A small number of meteorites (the SNC meteorites) are believed to have originated on Mars. On 1996 Aug 6, David McKay et al announced what they thought might be evidence of ancient Martian microorganisms in the meteorite ALH84001. Though there is still some controversy, the majority of the scientific community has not accepted this conclusion. If there is or was life on Mars, we still haven't found it. Large, but not global, weak magnetic fields exist in various regions of Mars. This unexpected finding was made by Mars Global Surveyor just days after it entered Mars orbit. They are probably remnants of an earlier global field that has since disappeared. This may have important implications for the structure of Mars' interior and for the past history of its atmosphere and hence for the possibility of ancient life. When it is in the nighttime sky, Mars is easily visible with the unaided eye. Mars is a difficult but rewarding target for an amateur telescope though only for the three or four months each martian year when it is closest to Earth. Its apparent size and brightness varies greatly according to its relative position to the Earth. There are several Web sites that show the current position of Mars (and the other planets) in the sky. More detailed and customized charts can be created with a planetarium program. Mars' Satellites Mars has two tiny satellites which orbit very close to the martian surface:

                      Distance         Radius        Mass       Satellite

                      (000 km)        (km)            (kg)         Discoverer     Date

---------           --------         ------        -------             ----------         ----

Phobos           9                11            1.08e16         Hall               1877

Deimos           23               6             1.80e15         Hall               1877

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