Essays on Liquid Water

Part 2. Recent and historical images of Mars

Historical Image of Mars. Website reference: http://www.fourthplanet.space/tag/christiaan-huygens/

Image info: Christiaan Huygens’ observational drawing of Mars shows a triangular feature which known today as Syrtis Major.

Telescope used: Huygens used a telescope created by himself (1655). It was a good 2-inch (5.1-cm) telescope of 10.5-foot (3.2-m) focal length and 50x magnification. (Sheehan)

Observer: Christiaan Huygens

Exposure time: Observations were taken over a number of weeks. Other relevant details: Huygens used results of his observations of Mars to measure Mars’ rotational period. He measured it as 24 hours (only one hour away from the rotational period of the planet recognized today). It should be noted that the most prominent and largest crater of the Mars was named after Huygens (14.0°S, 304.4° ...

The air near the surface will usually become warmer throughout the day. This is one of the main reasons why it is unstable. Then at night, the air that is close to the surface will begin to cool. This is going to form a temperature inversion or a stable atmosphere.2. Inversions aloft are sometimes called “capping inversions” or “lids”. Why?

This is because it is like putting a lid on the atmosphere.

3. You are flying at 4,000 feet AGL over a city during the day. There are no clouds present. As you descend to land at a nearby airport, you notice that, although visibility was very good at 4, ...