Earth and Mars formed in similar ways from the disk of gas surrounding our newborn Sun, and might have resembled each other for a time. But Mars, about half Earth’s size and half again as far away from the Sun, took a very different path, now frozen, dry, and any oceans it might have had now long vanished. “
(There are three drawings below this text. I will describe them and the text below them in my next toots).
The middle drawing shows a later cutaway of the same section of mars that’s now partially covered in water.
The text says:
“Ocean Mars
The two planets even might have been similar around 3.5 billion years ago; Mars might have had a thicker, warmer atmosphere and perhaps oceans of liquid water.”
The drawing on the right shows the same cutaway of Mars in present day. All of the water has evaporated and an impression where it once lay has been carved into the rocks and dust of Mars.
The text says:
“Present Day Mars
The Red Planet today is dry and desiccated, with an atmosphere too thin and a surface too cold to support expanses of liquid water. The Mars Perserverance rover is searching for signs of ancient life left over from its watery past.”
Lydia Schoch
in reply to NASA • • •Here’s a transcript of this post.
“Mars: Ancient to Modern.
Earth and Mars formed in similar ways from the disk of gas surrounding our newborn Sun, and might have resembled each other for a time. But Mars, about half Earth’s size and half again as far away from the Sun, took a very different path, now frozen, dry, and any oceans it might have had now long vanished. “
(There are three drawings below this text. I will describe them and the text below them in my next toots).
Lydia Schoch
in reply to NASA • • •The first drawing on the left shows a cutaway section of mars that is filled with molten rock and lava.
The text says:
“Early, Molten Mars
Earth and Mars both formed from cooling, molten masses after the birth of the solar system some 4.5 billion years ago.”
Lydia Schoch
in reply to NASA • • •The middle drawing shows a later cutaway of the same section of mars that’s now partially covered in water.
The text says:
“Ocean Mars
The two planets even might have been similar around 3.5 billion years ago; Mars might have had a thicker, warmer atmosphere and perhaps oceans of liquid water.”
Lydia Schoch
in reply to NASA • • •The drawing on the right shows the same cutaway of Mars in present day. All of the water has evaporated and an impression where it once lay has been carved into the rocks and dust of Mars.
The text says:
“Present Day Mars
The Red Planet today is dry and desiccated, with an atmosphere too thin and a surface too cold to support expanses of liquid water. The Mars Perserverance rover is searching for signs of ancient life left over from its watery past.”