ASTR 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Strong Gravity, Terrestrial Planet, Orbital Period
21 Jul 2017
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Module 11: mars as a special target for life. Mars and its tiny moons: mars has a reddish color due to the iron content in its soil. Contains two moons, both tiny and only 10 or 20 km across, named. Meaning panic and fear, they are represented in mythology as two horses that pulled chariot of mars, the god of war. Mars vs earth: mars has only 11% of earth"s mass and about 53% of its radius, meaning it is similar in terms of density and as a result it is a rocky planet. Only about 38% as strong gravity as earth, meaning it was unable to retain what might"ve been an originally thicker atmosphere, and it now has a thin carbon dioxide atmosphere. Also is 50% farther away from the sun than the earth (1. 5 au) meaning it is cooler and has longer orbital period of 1. 88 earth years.
