Detail View: NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection: A Martian Autumn Begins
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Title:
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A Martian Autumn Begins
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Explanation:
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Today is the first day of Autumn in the Northern Hemisphere of Planet Earth. The Autumnal Equinox [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960922.html ] occured yesterday at 7:56 pm EDT as the Sun crossed the celestial equator from North to South. Mars has seasons [ http://nova.stanford.edu/~frankb/seasons.html ] too and for the same reason that Earth does [ http://dlt.gsfc.nasa.gov/Ask/lessons/ regions/temperate/seasons.html ] -- like Earth, Mars' [ http://humbabe.arc.nasa.gov/mgcm/faq/climate_study.html ] axis of rotation is tilted with respect to the plane of its orbit around the sun. Eleven days ago Autumn also came to Mars' Northern Hemisphere [ http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/PR/97/31/9731b.html ] and the Hubble Space Telescope recorded this image [ http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/PR/97/31.html ] of the red planet to look for seasonal changes in the Martian weather [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970324.html ]. Clouds appear to cover the north polar regions while a dust storm rages in the south. The subject of weather on Mars [ http://nova.stanford.edu/projects/mgs/dmwr.html ] is important to the just arrived Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970911.html ] as it uses the innovative technique of aerobraking to establish a suitable mapping orbit around Mars.
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Credit and Copyright:
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Phil James (Univ. Toledo [ http://www.utoledo.edu/ ]), Steve Lee (Univ. Colorado [ http://www.colorado.edu/ ]), NASA [ http://www.nasa.gov ]
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facet_where:
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Colorado
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facet_what:
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Earth
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original url:
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http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970923.html
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UID:
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SPD-APOD-ap970923
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