History of the Names on Mars and How They Developed
For some odd reason, the names of our planets are taken from ancient Gods, with the original Mars maps referring to mythology and the Bible. Odd because the field that studies it today actually has a problem believing in something that cannot be seen, felt, smelled or touched without tangent proof—which leaves the Lord not very popular with most scientists. Even so, the planet Mar was originally named after the god Mars by our early Romans, who enjoyed war so much that it brought about bloodshed. Hence, the blood-red planet was named Mars after this fighting hero of antiquity.
WHO NAMES THINGS ON MARS NOW:
After the 19701s a particular group of people was given the assignment of deciding on names for some of the new features being returned Mars through data imagery processes. They were also given the task of setting up rules for naming things in the future. From this point, all features on Mars has two names, with the first part being its formal name that has to follow any established international rules, with the second name a geological name telling what type of geological feature it is.
• Mons: mountain
• Crater: circular depression
• Dorsum: ridge
• Planum: plateau or high plain
• Fossa: depression (hole)
• Valles: valley
MAPS OF MARS:
The very first map of Mars was begun by a man named Schiaparelli in late 1877, an Italian astronomer who studied the planet of Mars through a 8.75-inch telescope. Drawing and writing about the “canali”, an Italian word which refers to the appearance of channels criss-crossing the red planet, his work put on paper and pen the first Martian maps. On these maps, he named some of the features he saw using biblical and mythical geography.
LARGE VALLEYS:
The larger valleys on Mars are named for the specific word “Mars” in various languages around the world.
• Ares Vallis (word for Mars in Greek)
• Mangala Valles (word for Mars in Sanskrit)
• Marte Vallis (word for Mars in Spanish)
• Mawrth Vallis (word for Mars in Welsh)
• Nirgal Vallis (word for Mars in Babylonian)
• Tiu Vallis (word for Mars in Old English)
CRATERS:
Large craters on Mars are named after scientists who have died, and have contributed to the study of Mars, such as Gusev (Maturei M., 1826-1866, Russian astronomer) and Lowell (Percival, 1855-1916, American astronomer). Meanwhile, the small craters are named for villages and towns of the world with a population under 100,000. Examples would be Aspen (a little town in Colorado USA), Bira (a small town in Russian), Isil (a little town in Spain), Jama (a little town in Tunisia), and Kakori (a little town in India).
This entry was posted on Saturday, May 17th, 2008 at 1:36 pm and is filed under Mission History, Public Relations, Space Agency News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
