The red planet has fascinated mankind since the dawn of civilisation due to its remarkable colour, even when viewed with the naked eye. Therefore it was linked to the ancient gods of war and even today astrologists still attribute strong animal instincts to it such as anger, lust and energy.
Of course, this is all nonsense.
Mars's reddish colour derives from the significant iron content of the dust on its surface, which in a very distant past reacted with oxygen. So it would be correct to say that Mars is... rusted.
For astronomy enthusiasts on Earth, Mars is not an easy planet to observe because the faint details on its surface drown in its significant brightness. It's like looking at a seriously overexposed photograph. Fortunately, looking with both eyes in stead of one reduces this effect and I didn't have a lot of difficulties distinguishing the surprising details you can see on my sketch.
No comments:
Post a Comment