THE MYSTERIES OF MARS -

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has settled into orbit around the planet Mars and over the past two weeks it has been sending back detailed images, like nothing ever seen before. Through the use of a new high resolution camera scientists have been given an unprecedented look at the planet's surface, perhaps even the opportunity to shed new light on the many perplexities of the red planet.

For most casual stargazers, Mars goes unnoticed. To the naked eye it is merely a tiny speck of light in the night sky. Yet there may have been a time when this mysterious planet drew close enough to be catastrophic to life on planet Earth.

Most scientists take for granted that the movements of the planets and other objects in our solar system manifest an unchanging uniformity through time. These movements, however, also manifest minute variations that have, so far, eluded any consistent conjectures. Furthermore, careful observations of the objects in our solar system indicate that it has been - at least at times - a rather rough neighborhood. Take a look at the Moon through a telescope and you will see a lot of bruises. Or examine any of the photographs from our space probes. You'll see innumerable impact craters and other evidence of collisions and catastrophes. There is evidence that the present orbits were not always so - and some of the changes appear to have occurred during the memory of mankind.

Why did so many of the early cultures worship the Planet Mars? They were terrified of it. It was called the "God of War." The two moons of Mars are named Phobos, meaning "fear" or "panic," and Deimos, meaning "terror" or "dread." Why? These are only a few of the mysteries associated with this strange planet.

Mars Interferes?

The recent space age discovery of "orbital resonance" - the tendency of orbits to synchronize on a multiple of one another - has led to a fascinating conjecture that the orbits of the Earth and the Planet Mars were once on resonant orbits of 360 days and 720 days, respectively. A computer analysis has suggested that this could yield orbital interactions that would include a near pass-by on a multiple of 54 years, and this would occur on either March 25 or October 25. Such near pass-bys would transfer energy, altering the orbits of each.

In near proximity, such pass-bys would be accompanied by meteors, severe land tides, earthquakes, etc., and this would help explain why all the ancient cultures were so terrified by the Planet Mars and why calendars tended to reflect either March or October. A series of such pass-bys could also explain a number of the "catastrophes" of ancient history, including the famous "long day of Joshua" and several other Biblical episodes.

Stability appears to have been attained during the last near pass-by in 701 B.C., resulting in Earth's and Mars' present orbits of 365 1/4 days and 687 days, respectively. Provocative, but where's the evidence?

Swift to the Rescue

Oddly enough, corroboration for this remarkable conjecture can be found in the writings of Jonathan Swift, in his famous fantasy known as Gulliver's Travels. In his third voyage, Gulliver visits the land of Laputa, where the astronomers brag that they know all about the two moons of Mars. Their highly detailed description includes the size, the rotation, and the revolutions of each of the two moons.

What makes this particular allusion so provocative is that the two moons of Mars were not discovered by astronomers until 151 years after the publication of Gulliver's Travels in 1726. It was in 1877 that Asaph Hall, using a new telescope at the US Naval Observatory, shocked the astronomical world by discovering the two moons of Mars.

What makes the two moons so difficult to see is that they are relatively small in diameter and have an albedo (reflectivity) of only 3 percent. They are the darkest objects in the solar system, almost black. The two moons are also unique in their rotations. For Swift to have "guessed" these correctly is absurd.

Yet the telescopes of his day were inadequate to have actually seen these objects. But then how could he have known what the astronomers of his day did not? Swift, in order to embroider his satirical fiction, undoubtedly drew upon ancient records (Homer and Virgil were among those who wrote about what they called the two "Steeds of Mars"). He probably assumed they were simply legends, not realizing that they were actually eye witness accounts of ancient sightings when Mars was close enough for the two moons of Mars to be viewed with the naked eye!

For more information on this subject see our briefing The Mysteries of the Planet Mars.

Related Links:

 • Mars Orbiter Images Thrill NASA Scientists - MSNBC
 • Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter - NASA
 • The Mysteries of the Planet Mars - MP3 Download - Koinonia House
 • Joshua and The Twelve Tribes - MP3 Download - Koinonia House

Kay