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Mars image captured by Hubble
The Exploration of Mars: Was Percival Lowell Right? By Steve Colbern
Since ancient times, people have been fascinated with Mars. It is the most nearly Earthlike planet in our solar system, and has invoked both fear and wonder in nearly every society in recorded history. To the Romans and Greeks, the planet was the God of War, and feared strife on Earth when it became bright, in the heavens. Who can blame them; it is an impressive sight!
Many of you saw how bright Mars appeared last summer, at its last opposition1 and in the opposition of 2003. These last two oppositions of Mars were the closest in over 60,000 years; Mars was less than 35 Megamiles distant in 2003.
After the telescope had been sufficiently perfected, astronomers attempted to map the planet. The first investigator to draw some surface features of Mars was Sir William Herschel, around 1785. The first real map was drawn by Flammarion, et. al., and was improved upon by Giovanni Schiaparelli, using an 8″ telescope.
These early investigators found that Mars had some atmosphere, prominent white polar caps, which waxed and waned with the seasons, and large, persistent light and dark areas. The light areas were light orange, or burnt ochre in color, and did not vary much.
By contrast, the dark areas varied in size and color with the seasons, from brown, to dark green. Small blue-green areas resembling oases in the Martian desert were seen, along with the larger ones. The seasonal color changes of the dark areas were believed to be due to the presence of vegetation.
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