fandomhigh | Astronomy 101: Moons and Planets

Week 6 -- October 11: Mars, the red planet

Syllabus | Class Roster

Handouts:
Starmaps: North | South | East | West | Overhead

The strains of Holst's "Mars, the Bringer of War" greeted the students today as they arrive. Ellie had several pictures of Mars on display as she began the lecture.

"Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in our solar system and is named after Mars, the Roman god of war. Mars is also known as the 'Red Planet' due to its reddish appearance when seen from Earth.

Until the first flyby of Mars by Mariner 4 in 1965, it was thought that Mars had channels of liquid water. Observations later showed that these channels do not exist. Still, of all the planets in our solar system other than Earth, Mars is the most likely to harbor liquid water, and perhaps life. Its rotational period and seasonal cycles are also similar to those of the Earth. It has the highest mountain in the solar system, Olympus Mons, the largest canyon in the solar system, Valles Marineris, and polar ice caps.

Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos, which are small and oddly-shaped. These may be captured asteroids similar to 5261 Eureka, a Mars trojan asteroid. Mars can be seen from Earth with the naked eye. Its apparent magnitude reaches -2.9, a brightness surpassed only by Venus, the Moon, and the Sun. For much of the year, Jupiter may appear brighter to the naked eye than Mars."

Ellie continued with the lecture, going on about the geology and atmosphere of Mars, occasionally showing slides of scenes from "War of the Worlds" and "Mars Attacks!" just to see if people are paying attention. She finished up with:

"Two notes before I let you go. First, there is going to be a science fair in December, and I encourage all of you to submit a project. See me for approval if you need it. Second, Ms. Frizzle has invited our class to join her on an exploration of the Solar System with her Science! class tomorrow during period 7. If you have that hour free, please consider going. Anyone who does go -- and anyone who submits a science project for the fair -- will get extra credit for this class."

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"Rory's puppy turns one this month. It's on my mind," Parker explained, then looked thoughtful. "Maybe a comparison? Which planets are most like Earth, and have similar people on them?" She drew a little pyramid on her notebook, then squiggled over it. "And which are most dissimilar. Just the basics, maybe."

Marie considered that. "It could definitely work," she decided. "We could come up with a list of maybe ten factors and ask people to rate how like or dislike Earth they are on their home planets. Maybe we could make some fancy charts."

Parker grinned. "Powerpoint. It always looks more impressive. But yeah! Things like the weather, climate, the food..."

"Leisure activities, method of governnment, modes of transportation," Marie continued.

"Hmm. That's six. Life goals? Seven." Parker tapped her pen on the desk again, thinking hard. "And then get into the comparison on similarities to Earth, and what the average person from their world would think of our planet?"

"Types of dwellings would make it eight," Marie suggested, chewing on her pen cap as she tried to think of more.

"Weapons? No, that's probably leisure or government, and besides, it's grim." Parker looked thoughtful. "Entertainment, maybe? No, arts, that's what I mean. Not just leisure fun, but books/music, that kind of thing. And maybe which people knew about other planets and aliens before they came here? I know Anders and Cally knew about the other planets in their system, but nothing beyond that, for example."

Marie scribbled that all down. "So are we allowed to work together on these projects?"

Parker looked hopeful. "It can't hurt to ask, right? Because this *is* a big project. We don't have to interview every alien who goes to the school, but even making up a questionaire and graphs could take some doing."

Grinning, Marie nodded. "Definitely. I wonder if we can ask Dr. Arroway or if we need to talk to the teacher running it."

"I'll ask Dr. Arroway, if you ask Mrs.-- Frizzle?" Parker suggested. She grinned wickedly. "I looove extra credit."

"Deal," Marie said, still grinning. "And, yes, extra credit is never a bad thing."

Astronomy 101: Moons and Planets - Class 6

Re: During the Lecture -- talk, pass notes

Re: During the Lecture -- talk, pass notes

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Re: During the Lecture -- talk, pass notes

Re: During the Lecture -- talk, pass notes

Re: During the Lecture -- talk, pass notes

Re: During the Lecture -- talk, pass notes

Re: During the Lecture -- talk, pass notes

Re: During the Lecture -- talk, pass notes

Re: During the Lecture -- talk, pass notes