Mars in the News

Dramatic new photographs of Mars have revealed the possible existence of water on its surface.

The images - released for the first time on Wednesday by the US space agency NASA - were taken earlier this year in an attempt to unlock the secrets of the Red Planet.

Experts have long believed water was to be found on Mars, which is subject to extreme weather conditions. This latest discovery may provide vital proof there was life on Mars and that it is possible for man to land on its arid and rocky surface.

NASA researchers have documented the formation of new craters on the plant's surface and found bright, light-coloured deposits in gullies that were not present in previous photos.

They concluded the deposits - possibly mud, salt or frost - were left there when water recently cascaded through the channels.

In another photo a number of gullies on a crater wall can be clearly seen. The scientists believe that they may have been formed in relatively recent Martian history by erosion caused by flowing, liquid water.

What's old is new again. When Schiaparelli and Lowell first detailed sketches of the Martian surface, they both noted formations called canali (canals) - that first gave rise to the notion that there might be water on the Martian surface.

By the 19th century, the resolution of telescopes reached a level sufficient for surface features to be identified. In September 1877, a perihelic opposition of Mars occurred on September 5). In that year, Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli, while in Milan, used a 22cm telescope to help produce the first detailed map of Mars. These maps notably contained features he called canali, which were later shown to be an optical illusion. These canali were supposedly long straight lines on the surface of Mars to which he gave names of famous rivers on Earth. His term was popularly mistranslated as canals. history of the observation of mars

Influenced by the observations the orientalist Percival Lowell founded an observatory which had a 12 and 18 inch telescope. The observatory was used for the exploration of Mars during the last good opportunity in 1894 and the following less favorable oppositions. He published several books on Mars and life on Mars which had a great influence on the public. The canali were also found by other astronomers, like Perrotin and Thollon in Nice, using one of the largest telescopes of that time.

That turned out to be an optical illusion, but these images and observations suggest that there is indeed water on or just below the surface in some form or another.

Technorati: mars, water, nasa, red planet, lowell.