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Airy-0

Airy-0

Airy-0 is a crater on Mars whose location defines the position of the prime meridian of that planet. Airy-0 is about 0.5 kilometers across and lies within the larger crater Airy in the region Sinus Meridiani. Airy crater was named in honor of the British Astronomer Royal Sir George Biddell Airy (1801-1892), who in 1850 built the "transit circle" telescope at Greenwich. The location of that telescope was subsequently chosen to define the location of Earth's prime meridian.

External links

- [http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/01_31_01_releases/airy0/ The Martian Prime Meridian]
- [http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEM0VQV4QWD_0.html Where is zero degrees longitude on Mars?] Category:Craters on Mars

Mars/Planet

Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun in our solar system, is named after the Roman god of war Mars (Ares in Greek mythology), because of its apparent red color. This feature also earned it the nickname "The Red Planet". Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos, which are small and oddly-shaped, possibly being captured asteroids. The prefix areo- refers to Mars in the same way geo- refers to Earth—for example, areology versus geology. (However, areology is also used to refer to the study of Mars as a whole rather than just the geological processes of the planet.) The astronomical symbol for Mars is a circle with an arrow pointing northeast (Unicode: ♂). This symbol is a stylized representation of the shield and spear of the god Mars, and in biology it is used as a sign for the male sex. The Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese cultures refer to the planet as the fire star, 火星, a naming based on the ancient Chinese mythological cycle of Five Elements.

Mythology

Mars has been obvious to skygazers since prehistoric times. It was known by the Egyptians as "Her Deschel" or "the Red One." Among the Babylonians Mars was known as "Nergal" or "the Star of Death." The Romans were the ones to give Mars its modern name, after their god of war.

Physical characteristics

The red, fiery appearance of Mars is caused by iron oxide (rust) on its surface. Mars has only a quarter the surface area of the Earth and only one-tenth the mass, though its surface area is approximately equal to that of the Earth's dry land because Mars lacks oceans. The solar day (or sol) on Mars is very close to Earth's day: 24 hours, 39 minutes, and 35.244 seconds.

Atmosphere

Mars' atmosphere is thin: the air pressure on the surface is only 750 pascals, about 0.75% of the average on Earth. However, the scale height of the atmosphere is about 11 km, somewhat higher than Earth's 6 km. The atmosphere on Mars is 95% carbon dioxide, 3% nitrogen, 1.6% argon, and contains traces of oxygen and water. The atmosphere quite dusty, giving the Martian sky a tawny color when seen from the surface; data from the Mars Exploration Rovers indicates the suspended dust particles are roughly 1.5 microns across. In 2003, methane was apparently discovered in the atmosphere by Earth-based telescopes and possibly confirmed in March 2004 by the Mars Express Orbiter; present measurements state an average methane concentration of about 11±4 ppb by volume (see reference). The thin atmosphere cannot hold heat and is the cause of the lower temperatures on Mars. The maximum temperature is roughly 20℃ (68℉). The presence of methane on Mars would be very intriguing, since as an unstable gas it indicates that there must be (or have been within the last few hundred years) a source of the gas on the planet. Volcanic activity, comet impacts, and the existence of life in the form of microorganisms such as methanogens are among possible but as yet unproven sources. The methane appears to occur in patches, which suggests that it is being rapidly broken down before it has time to become uniformly distributed in the atmosphere, and so it is presumably also continually being released to the atmosphere. Plans are now being made to look for other companion gases that may suggest which sources are most likely; in the Earth's oceans biological methane production tends to be accompanied by ethane, while volcanic methane is accompanied by sulfur dioxide. Other aspects of the Martian atmosphere vary significantly. In the winter months when the poles are in continual darkness, the surface gets so cold that as much as 25% of the entire atmosphere condenses out into meters thick slabs of CO₂ ice (dry ice). When the poles are again exposed to sunlight the CO₂ ice sublimates, creating enormous winds that sweep off the poles as fast as 250 mph. These seasonal actions transport large amounts of dust and water vapor giving rise to Earth-like frost and large cirrus clouds. These clouds of water-ice were photographed by the Opportunity rover in 2004.[http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/opportunity/20041213a/merb_sol290_clouds-B313R1_br.jpg] Recently, evidence has been discovered suggesting that Mars may be warming in the short term[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4266474.stm]; however, it is now cooler than it was in the 1970s.[http://catdynamics.blogspot.com/2005/09/climate-science-mars-and-politics.html]

Geology

Opportunity The surface of Mars is thought to be primarily composed of basalt, based upon the Martian meteorite collection and orbital observations. There is some evidence that some portion of the Martian surface might be more silica-rich than typical basalt, perhaps similar to andesitic rocks on Earth, though these observations may also be explained by silica glass. Much of the surface is deeply covered by dust as fine as talcum powder. Observations of the magnetic fields on Mars by the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft have revealed that parts of the planet's crust has been magnetized. This magnetization has been compared to alternating bands found on the ocean floors of Earth. One interesting theory, published in 1999 and reexamined in October 2005 in a publication by the same group, is that these bands could be evidence of the past operation of plate tectonics on Mars. However, this has yet to be proven [http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02008] or widely accepted and remains an area of active research. plate tectonics Amongst the findings from the Opportunity rover is the presence of hematite on Mars in the form of small spheres on the Meridiani Planum. The spheres are only a few millimeters in diameter and are believed to have formed as rock deposits under watery conditions billions of years ago. Other minerals have also been found containing forms of sulfur, iron or bromine such as jarosite. This and other evidence led a group of 50 scientists to conclude in the December 9, 2004 edition of the journal Science that "Liquid water was once intermittently present at the Martian surface at Meridiani, and at times it saturated the subsurface. Because liquid water is a key prerequisite for life, we infer conditions at Meridiani may have been habitable for some period of time in Martian history". On the opposite side of the planet the mineral goethite, which (unlike hematite) forms only in the presence of water, along with other evidence of water, has also been found by the Spirit rover in the "Columbia Hills". In 1996, researchers studying a meteorite (ALH84001) believed to have originated from Mars reported features which they attributed to microfossils left by life on Mars. As of 2005, this interpretation remains controversial with no consensus having emerged.
Topography
As of 2005 As of 2005 The dichotomy of Martian topography is striking: northern plains flattened by lava flows contrast with the southern highlands, pitted and cratered by ancient impacts. The surface of Mars as seen from Earth is consequently divided into two kinds of areas, with differing albedo. The paler plains covered with dust and sand rich in reddish iron oxides were once thought of as Martian 'continents' and given names like Arabia Terra (land of Arabia) or Amazonis Planitia (Amazonian plain). The dark features were thought to be seas, hence their names Mare Erythraeum, Mare Sirenum and Aurorae Sinus. The largest dark feature seen from Earth is Syrtis Major. Syrtis Major Mars has polar ice caps that contain frozen water and carbon dioxide that change with the Martian seasons — the carbon dioxide ice sublimates in summer it uncovers an underlying surface of layered water ice and dust. The polar carbon dioxide "hood" then forms again in winter. The supposedly-extinct shield volcano, Olympus Mons (Mount Olympus), is at 26 km the highest mountain in the solar system. It is in a vast upland region called Tharsis, which contains several large volcanos. See list of mountains on Mars. Mars also has the solar system's largest canyon system, Valles Marineris or the Mariner Valley, which is 4000 km long and 7 km deep. Mars is also scarred by a number of impact craters. The largest of these is the Hellas impact basin, covered with light red sand. See list of craters on Mars. The difference between Mars' highest and lowest points is nearly 31 km (from the top of Olympus Mons at an altitude of 26 km to the bottom of the Hellas impact basin at an altitude of 4 km below the datum). In comparison, the difference between Earth's highest and lowest points (Mount Everest and the Mariana Trench) is only 19.7 km. Combined with the planets' different radii, this means Mars is nearly three times "rougher" than Earth. The International Astronomical Union's Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature is responsible for naming Martian surface features. Other notes: Zero elevation: Since Mars has no oceans and hence no 'sea level', a zero-elevation surface or mean gravity surface must be selected. The datum for Mars is defined by the fourth-degree and fourth-order spherical harmonic gravity field, with the zero altitude defined by the 610.5 Pa (6.105 mbar) atmospheric pressure surface (approximately 0.6% of Earth's) at a temperature of 273.16 K. This pressure and temperature correspond to the triple point of water. Zero meridian: Mars' equator is defined by its rotation, but the location of its Prime Meridian was specified, as was Earth's, by choice of an arbitrary point which was accepted by later observers. The German astronomers Wilhelm Beer and Johann Heinrich Mädler selected a small circular feature as a reference point when they produced the first systematic chart of Mars features in 1830-32. In 1877, their choice was adopted as the prime meridian by the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli when he began work on his notable maps of Mars. After the spacecraft Mariner 9 provided extensive imagery of Mars in 1972, a small crater (later called Airy-0), located in the Sinus Meridiani ('Middle Bay' or 'Meridian Bay') along the line of Beer and Mädler, was chosen by Merton Davies of the RAND Corporation to provide a more precise definition of 0.0° longitude when he established a planetographic control point network. RAND Corporation
Canals
Mars has an important place in human imagination due to the belief by some that life existed on Mars. These beliefs are due mainly to observations by many in the 19th century popularized by Percival Lowell and Giovanni Schiaparelli. Schiaparelli called these observed features canali, meaning channels in Italian. This was popularly mistranslated as 'canals', and the myth of the Martian canals began. They were apparently artificial linear features on the surface that were asserted to be canals, and due to seasonal changes in the brightness of some areas that were thought to be caused by vegetation growth. This gave rise to many stories concerning Martians. The linear features are now known to be mostly non-existent or, in some cases, dry ancient watercourses. The color changes have been ascribed to dust storms.
Ice lakes
many stories On 29 July 2005, the BBC reported that a visible ice lake had been discovered in a crater in the north polar region of Mars[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4727847.stm]. Images of the crater, taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera on board the European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft, clearly show a broad sheet of ice in the bottom of an unnamed crater located on Vastitas Borealis, a broad plain that covers much of Mars' far northern latitudes, at approximately 70.5° North and 103° East. The crater is 35 km (23 mi) wide and about 2 km (1.2 mi) deep. The BBC report however, appears to have either intentionally sensationalized or unintentionally mis-interpreted the original HRSC/Mars Express feature[http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMGKA808BE_0.html], which makes no claim or insinuation that this is a "lake". Like many thousands of other places on Mars, this ice sheet is a thin layer of frost that has condensed onto dark, cold sand dunes (about 200 m high) making their way across the bottom of the crater. The only thing remarkable about this feature is that it is far enough north to maintain at least some frost throughout the year.
The moons of Mars
Mars has two tiny natural moons, Phobos and Deimos, which orbit very close to the planet and are thought to be captured asteroids.
The exploration of Mars
asteroid Dozens of spacecraft, including orbiters, landers, and rovers, have been sent to Mars by the Soviet Union, the United States, Europe, and Japan to study the planet's surface, climate, and geography. Roughly two-thirds of all spacecraft destined for Mars have failed in one manner or another before completing or even beginning their missions. Part of this high failure rate can be ascribed to technical problems, but enough have either failed or lost communications for no apparent reason that some researchers half-jokingly speak of an Earth-Mars "Bermuda Triangle" or of a Great Galactic Ghoul which subsists on a diet of Mars probes, or of a Mars Curse. Among the most successful missions are the Mars probe program, the Mariner and Viking programs, Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Pathfinder, and Mars Odyssey. Global Surveyor has taken pictures of gullies and debris flow features that suggest there may be current sources of liquid water, similar to an aquifer, at or near the surface of the planet. Another possible origin proposed for these gully features is transient melting of surface water snow, frost, or ice. Mars Odyssey determined that there are significant deposits of water ice in the upper meter or so of Mars' regolith within 30° of the north and south pole. In 2003, the ESA launched the Mars Express craft consisting of the Mars Express Orbiter and the lander Beagle 2. Attempts to contact the Beagle 2 failed and it was declared lost in early February 2004. Beagle 2 Also in 2003, NASA launched the twin Mars Exploration Rovers named Spirit (MER-A) and Opportunity (MER-B). Both missions landed successfully in January 2004 and have met or exceeded all their targets; while a 90-day nominal mission was planned, as of February 2005, their missions have been extended twice and they continue to return science, although some mechanical faults have occurred. Among the most significant science return has been evidence of liquid water some time in the past at both landing sites. In addition, dust devils imaged from ground-level have been detected moving across the surface of Mars by Spirit (MER-A). (See picture below). Dust devils were first imaged on Mars from the surface by Mars Pathfinder. Mars Pathfinder
Nomenclature

Early nomenclature
Although better remembered for mapping the Moon starting in 1830, Johann Heinrich Mädler and Wilhelm Beer were the first "areographers". They started off by establishing once and for all that most of the surface features were permanent, and pinned down Mars' rotation period. In 1840, Mädler combined ten years of observations and drew the first map of Mars ever made. Rather than giving names to the various markings they mapped, Beer and Mädler simply designated them with letters; Meridian Bay (Sinus Meridiani) was thus feature "a". Over the next twenty years or so, as instruments improved and the number of observers also increased, various Martian features acquired a hodge-podge of names. To give a couple of examples, Solis Lacus was known as the "Oculus" (the Eye), and Syrtis Major was usually known as the "Hourglass Sea" or the "Scorpion". In 1858, it was also dubbed the "Atlantic Canale" by the Jesuit astronomer Angelo Secchi. Secchi commented that it "seems to play the role of the Atlantic which, on Earth, separates the Old Continent from the New" —this was the first time the fateful canale, which in Italian can mean either "channel" or "canal", had been applied to Mars. In 1867, Richard Anthony Proctor drew up a map of Mars based, somewhat crudely, on the Rev. William Rutter Dawes' earlier drawings of 1865, then the best ones available. Proctor explained his system of nomenclature by saying, "I have applied to the different features the names of those observers who have studied the physical peculiarities presented by Mars." Here are some of his names, paired with those later proposed by Schiaparelli:
- Kaiser Sea = Syrtis Major1865
- Lockyer Land = Hellas
- Main Sea = Lacus Moeris
- Herschel II Strait = Sinus Sabaeus
- Dawes Continent = Aeria and Arabia
- De La Rue Ocean = Mare Erythraeum
- Lockyer Sea = Solis Lacus
- Dawes Sea = Tithonius Lacus
- Madler Continent = Chryse, Ophir, Tharsis
- Maraldi Sea = Mares Sirenum and Cimmerium
- Secchi Continent = Memnonia
- Hooke Sea = Mare Tyrrhenum
- Cassini Land = Ausonia
- Herschel I Continent = Zephyria, Aeolis, Aethiopis
- Hind Land = Libya Proctor's nomenclature has often been criticized, mainly because so many of his names honored English astronomers, but also because he used many names more than once. In particular, Dawes appeared no fewer than six times (Dawes Ocean, Dawes Continent, Dawes Sea, Dawes Strait, Dawes Isle, and Dawes Forked Bay). Even so, Proctor's names are not without charm, and for all their shortcomings they were a foundation on which later astronomers would improve.
Modern nomenclature
Today, features on Mars derive from a number of sources. Large albedo features retain many of the older names, but are often updated to reflect new knowledge of the nature of the features. For example 'Nix Olympica' (the snows of Olympus) has become 'Olympus Mons' (Mount Olympus). Large Martian craters are named after important scientists and science fiction writers; smaller ones are named after towns and villages on Earth.
Observation of Mars
Earth passes Mars every 780 days (or two years plus seven weeks and one day) at a distance of about 80,000,000 km. However, this varies because the orbits are elliptical. To a naked-eye observer, Mars usually shows a distinct yellow, orange or reddish colour, and varies in brightness more than any other planet as seen from Earth over the course of its orbit, due to the fact that when furthest away from the Earth it is more than seven times as far from the latter as when it is closest (and can be lost in the Sun's glare for months at a time when least favourably positioned). At its most favourable times — which occur twice every 32 years, alternately at 15 and 17-year intervals, and always between late July and late September — Mars shows a wealth of surface detail to a telescope. Especially noticeable, even at low magnification, are the polar ice caps. polar ice cap On August 27, 2003, at 9:51:13 UT, Mars made its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years: 55,758,006 km (approximately 35 million miles) without Light-time correction. This close approach came about because Mars was one day from opposition and about three days from its perihelion, making Mars particularly easy to see from Earth. The last time it came so close is estimated to have been on September 12, 57,617 BC. Detailed analysis of the solar system's gravitational landscape forecasts an even closer approach in 2287. However, to keep this in perspective, this record approach was only an imperceptibly tiny fraction less than other recent close approaches that occur four times every 284 years. For instance, the minimum distance on August 22 1924 was 0.37284 AU, compared to 0.37271 AU on August 27 2003, and the minimum distance on August 24 2208 will be 0.37278 AU. A transit of the Earth as seen from Mars will occur on November 10, 2084. At that time the Sun, the Earth and Mars will be exactly in a line. There are also transits of Mercury and transits of Venus, and the moon Deimos is of sufficiently small angular diameter that its partial "eclipses" of the Sun are best considered transits (see Transit of Deimos from Mars). The only occultation of Mars by Venus to be observed was that of October 3, 1590, seen by M. Möstlin at Heidelberg. Heidelberg
Appearance

Martian meteorites
:Main article: Martian meteorites A handful of objects are known that are surely meteorites and may be of Martian origin. Two of them may show signs of ancient bacterial activity. On August 6, 1996 NASA announced that analysis of the ALH 84001 meteorite thought to have come from Mars, shows some features that may be fossils of single-celled organisms, although this idea is controversial. In Solar System Research (March 2004, vol 38, page 97) it was suggested that the unique Kaidun meteorite, recovered from Yemen, may have originated on the Martian moon of Phobos. On April 14, 2004, NASA revealed that a rock known as "Bounce", studied by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, was similar in composition to the meteorite EETA79001-B, discovered in Antarctica in 1979. The rock may have been ejected from the same crater as the meteorite, or from another crater in the same area of the Martian surface.
Life on Mars
Evidence exists that the planet once was significantly more habitable than today, but the question whether living organisms ever actually existed there is an open one. Some researchers think that a certain rock which is believed to have originated on Mars - specifically, meteorite ALH84001 - does contain evidence of past biologic activity, but no consensus about these claims has been achieved so far and recent research indicates that the rock, since its creation several billion years ago, has never been exposed to temperatures for extended periods of time that would allow for liquid water. The Viking probes carried experiments designed to detect microorganisms in Martian soil at their respective landing sites, and had some positive results, later denied by many scientists, resulting in ongoing controversy. Also, present biologic activity is one of the explanations that have been suggested for the presence of traces of methane within the Martian atmosphere, but other explanations not involving life are generally considered more likely. If colonization is going to happen, Mars seems a likely choice due to its rather hospitable conditions (compared with other planets, it is most like Earth).
The Mars flag
colonization In early 2000, a proposed Mars flag flew aboard the space shuttle Discovery. Designed by NASA engineer and Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station task force leader Pascal Lee and carried aboard by astronaut John Mace Grunsfeld, the flag consists of three vertical bars (red, green, and blue), symbolizing the transformation of Mars from a barren planet (red) to one bearing sustainable life (green), and finally to a fully terraformed planet with open bodies of water. This design was suggested by the Kim Stanley Robinson sci-fi trilogy Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars. While other designs have been proposed, the republican tricolor has been adopted by the Mars Society as its own official banner. In a statement released after the launch of the mission, the Society said that the flag "has now been honored by a vessel of the leading spacefaring nation on Earth," and added that "(i)t is fitting that this action occurred when it did: at the dawning of a new millenium."
Mars in fiction
The depiction of Mars in fiction has been stimulated its dramatic red color and by early scientific speculations that its surface conditions might be capable of supporting life. Until the arrival of planetary probes, the traditional view of Mars derived from the astronomers Percival Lowell and Giovanni Schiaparelli, whose observation of supposedly linear features on the planet created the myth of canals on Mars. For many years, a standard notion of the planet as a drying, cooling, dying world with ancient civilizations constructing irrigation works. Thus originated a large number of science fiction scenarios, the best known of which is H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds, in which Martians seek to escape their dying planet by invading Earth. After the Mariner and Viking spacecraft had returned pictures of Mars as it really is, an apparently lifeless and canal-less world, these ideas about Mars had to be abandoned and a vogue for accurate, realist depictions of human colonies on Mars developed, the best known of which may be Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy. However, pseudo-scientific speculations about the Face on Mars and other enigmatic landmarks spotted by space probes have meant that ancient civilizations continue to be a popular theme in science fiction, especially in film. Another popular theme, particularly among American writers, is the Martian colony that fights for independence from Earth. This is a major plot element in the novels of Greg Bear and Kim Stanley Robinson, as well as the movie Total Recall (based on a novel by Philip K. Dick) and the television series Babylon 5. Many video games also use this element, such as Red Faction.
See also

- Areography
- Astrobiology
- Astronomy on Mars
- Colonization of Mars
- Darian calendar
- Face on Mars photo article
- Timekeeping on Mars
- Exploration of Mars
- List of artificial objects on Mars
- List of craters on Mars
- List of mountains on Mars
- Martian meteorite
- Mars photos
- Mars in fiction
- Extraterrestrial life
- Terraforming
- Mars Direct
- Mars in astrology
- Ares
- Tyr
- Richard C. Hoagland
References

- William Sheehan, [http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/onlinebks/mars/contents.htm The Planet Mars: A History of Observation and Discovery], The University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1996
- Vladimir A. Krasnopolsky, Jean-Pierre Maillard, Tobias C. Owen, [http://www.google.ca/url?sa=U&start=1&q=http://www.cosis.net/abstracts/EGU04/06169/EGU04-A-06169.pdf&e=912 Detection of methane in the Martian atmosphere: evidence for life?], Icarus, 172 (2), 537-547. [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=2004Sci...306.1753L&db_key=AST&data_type=HTML&format=&high=439c7b95b425777 Lemmon et al., "Atmospheric Imaging Results from the Mars Exploration Rovers: Spirit and Opportunity"]
External links

- [http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/marsfact.html NASA's Mars fact sheet]
- [http://www.nineplanets.org/mars.html Nine Planets Mars page]
- [http://www.marsnews.com MarsNews.com - News and info site]
- [http://www.student.oulu.fi/~jkorteni/space/mars/surface/ Introduction to Martian topography, with Hubble Space Telescope photos]
- [http://www.geoinf.fu-berlin.de/mex/ FU Berlin: HRSC (camera) experiment at Mars Express] (eng. & ger.; press releases and high resolution images)
- [http://www.giss.nasa.gov/tools/mars24/help/notes.html Technical Notes about Time on Mars]
- [http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4212/on-mars.html On Mars: Exploration of the Red Planet 1958-1978] from the NASA History Office.
- [http://flagspot.net/flags/mars.html The Mars Society flag]
- [http://www.vias.org/spacetrip/mars_globalview.html A Trip Into Space] Photos and descriptions of Mars
- [http://www.cato.org/pubs/wtpapers/980815paper.html Martian Law - a CATO white paper]
- [http://www.marsunearthed.com/ Mars Unearthed] - Comparisons of terrains between Earth and Mars
- [http://www.ibiblio.org//e-notes/VRML/Globe/Globe.htm 3D VRML Mars globe]
- [http://www.enterprisemission.com/ Enterprise Mission: Richard C. Hoagland's Homepage]
Water on Mars

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4727847.stm Highly visible ice lake found on Mars - BBC]
- Dr. Tony Phillips: [http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ast29jun_1m.htm "Making a Splash on Mars"], Science@NASA article, June 29, 2000. Phillips describes the Martian "gullies" and explains the conditions under which liquid water can exist on the surface of Mars.
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_2009000/2009318.stm BBC News story on subsurface ice deposits on Mars]
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3426539.stm BBC News update on Mars Express' findings of polar water ice and water-eroded features on the surface]
- [http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/solarsystem/opportunity_water.html Mars Rover Scientists Wring Water Story from Rocks] This image taken by Mars Rover Opportunity shows microscopic rock forms indicating past signs of water. Courtesy: NASA
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4285119.stm BBC News Mars pictures reveal frozen sea]
Mars exploration

- [http://www.transhumanist.com/volume4/space.htm The Political Economy of Very Large Space Projects (Journal Of Evolution and Technology)]
- [http://www.exploremarsnow.org/ exploreMarsnow] Interactive Mars base simulation. Winner of 2003 Webby Award for Science.
- [http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html NASA Mars Exploration Rover Home Page]
- [http://dualmoments.com/marsrovers/index.html Be on Mars] Anaglyphs from the Mars Rovers (3D)
- als:Mars (Planet) ko:화성 ms:Marikh ja:火星 simple:Mars (planet) th:ดาวอังคาร

Airy (Mars crater)

:For other craters with this name, see Airy (crater). Airy crater is a crater on Mars, named in honor of the British Astronomer Royal Sir George Biddell Airy (1801-1892). Airy crater is approximately 40 kilometers in diameter and is located at 0.1°E 5.1°S in the Meridiani Planum region. The much smaller crater Airy-0, which defines the location of Mars' prime meridian, lies within. Category:Craters on Mars

Sinus Meridiani

Sinus Meridiani is a classic albedo feature on Mars stretching east-west just south of that planet's equator. The area was named by the French astronomer Camille Flammarion in the late 1870s when he worked on his compilation and analysis of all prior observations of Mars. Prior astronomers, notably the German team of Wilhelm Beer and Johann Heinrich Mädler and then the Italian Giovanni Schiaparelli, had chosen a particular point on Mars as being the location of its prime meridian when they charted their observations. Accepting suggestions that dark areas on the surface of Mars were seas or oceans, Flammarion named a dark area at that point "Sinus Meridiani", literally "Meridian Bay". Since flyby and orbital spacecraft imagery of Mars began to become available in the 1960s, dark-light albedo features on the planet have seen shifting of names to more accurately reflect the nature of the topography. Sinus Meridiani consequently became also known as Terra Meridiani, or "Meridian Land", or as Meridiani Planum, the "Meridian Plateau". However, some texts will distinguish that Meridiani Planum, now much popularized as the landing place of Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, lies in the western portion of Sinus Meridiani. Category:Albedo features on Mars

1850

1850 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar).

Events

- January 4 - The first American ice-skating club is formed (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania).
- January 29 - Henry Clay introduces the Compromise of 1850 to the U.S. Congress
- February 28 - University of Utah opens in Salt Lake City, Utah
- March 7 - United States Senator Daniel Webster gives his "Seventh of March" speech in which he endorses the Compromise of 1850 in order to prevent a possible civil war.
- March 18 - American Express is founded by Henry Wells & William Fargo.
- April 4 - Los Angeles, California is incorporated as a city.
- July 9 - President Zachary Taylor dies while in office and Millard Fillmore becomes the 13th President of the United States (he is inaugurated the next day).
- July 9 - The Báb, founder of the Bábí Faith, is executed by firing squad in Tabriz, Persia
- August 28 - Richard Wagner's opera Lohengrin premieres
- September 9 - California is admitted as the 31st U.S. state.
- September 9 - New Mexico Territory is organized by order of the U.S. Congress
- December 16 - The first four sailing ships arrived at the Port of Lyttelton (New Zealand), with 792 emigrants or Canterbury Pilgrims as they called themselves. On this day they founded an exclusive theocratic Utopia, which they called Christchurch.
- December - Christian mystic Hong Xiuquan begins the Taiping Rebellion.
- The United States Republican Party is founded
- Foundation of the University of Sydney, the oldest in Australia
- The American System of Watch Manufacturing starts in Roxbury, Mass.U.S.A. Waltham Watch Company
- Bingley Hall, the world's first purpose- built exhibition hall, opens in Birmingham, England.
- Pinkerton Detective Agency
- France begins to transport colonists to Algeria
- Modern acoustic guitar created in Spain
- Rifling becomes common in firearms
- Entre Ríos Province in Argentina revolts - it is backed by Brazil in alliance with Paraguay and the Uruguayan Colorado Party
- Harriet Tubman becomes an official conductor of the Underground Railroad
- James Beckwourth discovers Beckwourth Pass.

Births

January - April

- January 4 - Frederick York Powell, English historian and scholar (died 1904)
- January 6 - Eduard Bernstein, German social democratic theoretician and politician (died 1932)
- January 6 - Xaver Scharwenka, Polish-German composer (died 1924)
- January 10 - John Wellborn Root, U.S. architect (died 1891)
- January 11 - Philipp von Ferrary, Italian stamp collector (died 1917)
- January 14 - Pierre Loti, French sailor and writer (died 1923)
- January 15 - Mihai Eminescu, Romanian romantic poet (died 1889)
- January 15 - Leonard Darwin, son of the British naturalist Charles Darwin (died 1943)
- January 15 - Sofia Kovalevskaya, Russian mathematician (died 1891)
- January 17 - Aleksandr Taneyev, Russian composer (died 1918)
- January 18 - Seth Low, American educator (died 1916)
- January 19 - Augustine Birrell, English author and politician (died 1933)
- January 24 - Mary Noailles Murfree, American novelist (died 1922)
- January 27 - Edward Smith, Captain of the Titanic (died 1912)
- January 27 - Samuel Gompers, U.S. labor union leader (died 1924)
- January 28 - Edward Merritt Hughes, U.S. Navy officer (died 1903)
- February 12 - William Morris Davis, U.S. geographer (died 1934)
- February 14 - Kiyoura Keigo, Prime Minister of Japan (died 1942)
- February 15 - Albert B. Cummins, U.S. political figure (died 1926)
- February 17 - Alf Morgans, Premier of Western Australia (died 1933)
- February 23 - César Ritz, Swiss hotelier (died 1918)
- February 27 - Henry Huntington, U.S. railroad pioneer and art collector (died 1927)
- March 7 - Tomáš Masaryk, President of Czechoslovakia (died 1937)
- March 7 - Champ Clark, U.S. politician (died 1921)
- March 7 - Éphrem-A. Brisebois, Canadian police officer (died 1890)
- March 13 - Hugh John Macdonald, premier of Manitoba (died 1929)
- March 26 - Edward Bellamy, U.S. author (died 1898)
- March 31 - Charles Doolittle Walcott, U.S. invertebrate paleontologist (died 1927)
- April 11 - Isidor Rayner, U.S. senator (died 1912)
- April 12 - Nikolai Golitsyn, Prime Minister of Russia (died 1925)
- April 13 - Arthur Matthew Weld Downing, British astronomer (died 1917)
- April 15 - William Thomas Pipes, Nova Scotia politician (died 1909)
- April 15 - Edmund Peck, Canadian missionary (died 1924)
- April 16 - Paul von Breitenbach, German railway planner (died 1930)
- April 18 - Joseph Labadie, U.S. labor organizer (died 1933)
- April 20 - Daniel Chester French, U.S. sculptor (died 1931)
- April 26 - Harry Bates, British sculptor (died 1899)
- April 26 - James Drake, Australian politician (died 1915)
- April 27 - Hans Hartwig von Beseler, German soldier (died 1921)
- April 29 - George Murdoch, first mayor of Calgary (died 1910)

May - December

- May 1 - Prince Arthur of the United Kingdom (died 1942)
- May 7 - Anton Seidl, Hungarian conductor (died 1898)
- May 8 - Ross Barnes, U.S. baseball player (died 1915)
- May 10 - Thomas Lipton, Scottish merchant and yachtsman (died 1931)
- May 12 - Henry Cabot Lodge, U.S. statesman (died 1924)
- May 12 - Charles McLaren, 1st Baron Aberconway, Scottish Liberal politician and jurist (died 1934)
- May 12 - Frederick Holder, premier of South Australia (died 1909)
- May 14 - Alva Adams, Governor of Colorado (died 1922)
- May 18 - Oliver Heaviside, British engineer (died 1925)
- May 21 - Giuseppe Mercalli, Italian volcanologist (died 1914)
- May 27 - Thomas Neill Cream, serial killer (died 1892)
- May 28 - Frederic William Maitland, English jurist and historian (died 1906)
- May 30 - Frederick Dent Grant, U.S.soldier and statesman (died 1912)
- June 2 - Jesse Boot, 1st Baron Trent, British businessman (died 1931)
- June 3 - Albert M. Todd, American businessman and politician (died 1931)
- June 5 - Pat Garrett, American bartender and sheriff (died 1908)
- June 6 - Karl Ferdinand Braun, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1918)
- June 12 - Roberto Ivens, Portuguese explorer of Africa (died 1898)
- June 22 - Ignaz Goldziher, Jewish Hungarian orientalist (died 1921)
- June 24 - Horatio Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener, British field marshal and statesman (died 1916)
- June 27 - Ivan Vazov, Bulgarian poet (died 1921)
- June 27 - Lafcadio Hearn, Greco-Japanese author (died 1904)
- June 27 - Jørgen Pedersen Gram, Danish mathematician (died 1916)
- July 2 - Robert Ridgway, U.S. ornithologist (died 1929)
- July 8 - Charles Rockwell Lanman, U.S. Sanskrit scholar (died 1941)
- July 12 - Newell Sanders, U.S. businessman and politician (died 1938)
- July 12 - Otto Schoetensack, German anthropologist (died 1912)
- July 15 - Mother Cabrini, U.S. saint (died 1917)
- July 20 - John G. Shedd, U.S. businessman (died 1926)
- July 28 - William Whittingham Lyman, U.S. vintner (died 1921)
- July 31 - Robert Love Taylor, Tennessee congressman (died 1912)
- July 31 - Robert Planquette, French composer of stage musicals (died 1903)
- August 5 - Guy de Maupassant, French writer
- August 6 - Henri Chantavoine, French writer (died 1918)
- August 14 - W. W. Rouse Ball, British mathematician (died 1925)
- August 26 - Charles Robert Richet, French physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1935)
- August 27 - Silas Alexander Ramsay, mayor of Calgary (died 1942)
- August 30 - Cal McVey, U.S. baseball player (died 1926)
- September 2 - Woldemar Voigt, German physicist (died 1919)
- September 2 - Eugene Field, U.S. writer (died 1895)
- September 2 - Albert Spalding, U.S. baseball player and businessman (died 1915)
- September 2 - Alfred Pringsheim, German mathematician (died 1941)
- September 8 - Paul Gerson Unna, German dermatologist (died 1929)
- September 9 - Jane Ellen Harrison, British classical scholar and feminist (died 1928)
- September 28 - Charles William Dorsett, U.S. prohibitionist (died 1936)
- October 1 - David R. Francis, Governor of Missouri (died 1927)
- October 18 - Pablo Iglesias, Spanish socialist politician (died 1925)
- October 18 - Basil Hall Chamberlain, British Japanologist (died 1935)
- October 22 - Charles Kingston, Premier of South Australia (died 1908)
- October 30 - John Patton, Jr., U.S. Senator from the state of Michigan (died 1907)
- November 5 - Ella Wheeler Wilcox, U.S. author and poet (died 1919)
- November 12 - Mikhail Chigorin, Russian chess player (died 1908)
- November 13 - Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish writer (died 1894)
- November 13 - Sir John Benn, 1st Baronet, British politician (died 1922)
- November 16 - Federico Errázuriz Echaurren, Chilean political figure (died 1901)
- November 22 - Georg Dehio, German historian of art (died 1932)
- November 28 - Robert Koehler, German born painter and art teacher (died 1917)
- November 30 - Cayetano Coll y Toste, Puerto Rican historian and writer (died 1930)
- December 8 - Robert E. Pattison, governor of Pennsylvania (died 1904)
- December 9 - Emma Abbott, U.S. opera singer (died 1891)
- December 11 - Mary Victoria Hamilton, Scottish-German-French great-grandmother of Prince Rainier III of Monaco (died 1922)
- December 12 - Martin F. Ansel, Governor of South Carolina (died 1945)
- December 21 - Zdeněk Fibich, Czech composer (died 1900)
- December 24 - Brandon Thomas, British actor and playwright (died 1914)
- December 25 - Florence Griswold, U.S. art curator (died 1937)
- December 28 - Francesco Tamagno, Italian operatic tenor (died 1905)

Unknown Date

A - H

- Abdul Rahman bin Faisal, Saudi ruler (died 1928)
- Abraham Fischer, Prime Minister of the Orange River Colony in South Africa (died 1913)
- Alexandre Luigini, French conductor and composer (died 1906)
- Alfred Gabriel Nathorst, Swedish Arctic explorer and geologist (died 1921)
- Alfred Maudslay, British colonial diplomat (died 1931)
- Andria Dadiani, Prince of Samegrelo (died 1910)
- Bernhard Baron, Jewish cigarette-manufacturer and philanthropist (died 1929)
- Artur Władysław Potocki, Polish nobleman (died 1890)
- Bernardo Reyes, Mexican general (died 1913)
- Charles Braithwaite, Manitoba politician and agrarian leader (died 1910)
- Charles Hazelius Sternberg, U.S. fossil collector and amateur paleontologist (died 1943)
- Cuthbert A. Brereton, British civil engineer (died 1910)
- Cyrus Hermann Kotzschmar Curtis, U.S. publisher (died 1933)
- Daniel Carter Beard, U.S. scouting pioneer (died 1941)
- Daniel J. Greene, Newfoundland politician (died 1911)
- Ebenezer Howard, British urban planner (died 1928)
- Edgar Wilson Nye, U.S. humorist (died 1896)
- Edmond Holmes, English writer and poet (died 1936)
- Edmond Nocard, French veterinarian and microbiologist (died 1903)
- Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer, responsible for diabetes mellitus (died 1935)
- Edward John Gregory, British painter (died 1909)
- Emanuel Schiffers, Russian chess player (died 1904)
- Ernest Albert Waterlow, English painter (died 1919)
- Ernst Bernheim, German-Jewish historian (died 1922)
- Fanny Davenport, U.S. actress (died 1898)
- Fernando Fernandez, Puerto Rican distiller (approximate date; died 1940)
- Georg von Vollmar, Socialist politician in Bavaria (died 1922)
- George Henschel, English musician (died 1934)
- George Hitchcock, U.S. artist (died 1913)
- Hamo Thornycroft, British sculptor (died 1925)
- Hendry Brown, U.S. outlaw (approximate date; died 1884)
- Henricus van de Wetering, Archbishop of Utrecht (died 1929)
- Hermann Ebbinghaus, German psychologist (died 1909)
- Hermann von Ihering, German-Brazilian zoologist (died 1930)

J-Z

- J. Walter Fewkes, U.S. anthropologist (died 1930)
- James Kenyon, British pioneer of cinematography (died 1925)
- James Moore, British cyclist
- Johann Büttikofer, Swiss zoologist (died 1929)
- John Casper Branner, U.S. geologist (died 1922)
- John Collier, British writer and painter (died 1934)
- John Perry, Irish engineer (died 1920)
- John Wycliffe Lowes Forster, Canadian portrait painter (died 1938)
- Johnny Ringo, U.S. cowboy (died 1892)
- Julius Wernher, German born British businessman and art collector (died 1912)
- Kate Chopin, U.S. novelist (died 1904)
- László Lukács, Prime Minister of Hungary (died 1932)
- Laura E. Richards, U.S. author (died 1943)
- Lawrence Hargrave, Australian engineer (died 1915)
- Léon-Adolphe Cardinal Amette, French Catholic cardinal and archbishop of Paris (died 1920)
- Lluís Domènech i Montaner, Catalan architect (died 1923)
- Lucien Gaulard, French inventor (died 1888)
- Maria Beatrix Krasińska, Polish noblewoman (died 1884)
- Montague Aldous, Canadian surveyor
- Murdo MacKenzie, Scottish-Brazilian rancher
- Oscar Straus, U.S. politician (died 1936)
- Pavel Axelrod, Russian politician (died 1928)
- Per Hasselberg, Swedish sculptor (died 1371)
- Philip Bourke Marston, English poet (died 1887)
- Rose Hawthorne Lathrop, U.S. Roman Catholic nun and social worker (died 1926)
- Rose la Touche, lover of John Ruskin
- Rudolf Hoernes, Austrian geologist
- Solomon Schechter, founder of the United Synagogue of America (died 1915)
- Steve Bellan, Cuban baseball player (died 1932)
- Thomas Alexander Smith, U.S. politician (died 1932)
- Victor Henry, French philologist (died 1907)
- Victor Laloux, French Beaux-Arts architect (died 1937)
- Vissarion Jughashvili, Joseph Stalin's father (approximate date; died 1890)
- William Lawrence, U.S. Episcopalian bishop of Massachusetts (died 1941)
- William Pugsley, Canadian politician and lawyer (died 1925)
- William Wallace Wotherspoon, U.S. general (died 1921)
- Yaa Asantewaa, Queen Mother of Edweso (approximate date; died 1921)
- Zaharoff Basil, Anglo-Turkish financier and arms manufacturer (died 1936)

Deaths

January - May

- January 20 - Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger, Danish poet and playwright (born 1779)
- January 22 - William Joseph Chaminade, French Catholic priest (born 1761)
- January 26 - Francis Jeffrey, Scottish judge and literary critic (born 1773)
- January 27 - Johann Gottfried Schadow, German sculptor (born 1764)
- January 27 - Philipp Roth, composer (born 1779)
- February 4 - Daniel Turner, officer in the United States Navy (born 1794)
- February 25 - Daoguang Emperor, of the Qing dynasty of China (born 1782)
- February 27 - Samuel Adams, Democratic Governor of the State of Arkansas (born 1805)
- March 3 - Oliver Cowdery, U.S. religious leader (born 1806)
- March 26 - Samuel Turell Armstrong, U.S. political figure (born 1784)
- March 27 - Wilhelm Beer, German banker and astronomer (born 1797)
- March 28 - Gerard Brandon, Governor of Mississippi (born 1788)
- March 31 - John C. Calhoun, U.S. politician (born 1782)
- April 7 - William Lisle Bowles, English poet and critic (born 1762)
- April 9 - William Prout, English chemist and physician (born 1785)
- April 16 - Marie Tussaud, French wax sculptor (born 1761)
- April 23 - William Wordsworth, English poet (born 1770)
- April 24 - John Norvell, U.S. newspaperman and senator (born 1789)
- May 1 - Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville, French zoologist and anatomist (born 1777)
- May 10 - Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac, French chemist and physicist (born 1778)
- May 21 - Christoph Friedrich von Ammon, German theological writer and preacher (born 1766)
- May 31 - Giuseppe Giusti, Tuscan satirical poet (born 1809)

June - December

- June 19 - Margaret Fuller, U.S. journalist (born 1810)
- June 30 - Richard Dillingham, U.S. Quaker teacher (born 1823)
- July 2 - Robert Peel, British Prime Minister (born 1788)
- July 4 - William Kirby, English entomologist (born 1759)
- July 7 - Timothy Hackworth, British steam locomotive engineer
- July 8 - Prince Adolphus of the United Kingdom, 1st Duke of Cambridge (born 1774)
- July 9 - The Báb, Persian founder of the Bábí Faith (born 1819)
- July 9 - Zachary Taylor, 12th President of the United States (born 1784)
- July 9 - Jean Pierre Boyer, president of Haiti (born 1776)
- July 14 - August Neander, German theologian and church historian (born 1789)
- July 25 - Richard Barnes Mason, military governor of California (born 1797)
- August 3 - Jacob Jones, officer in the United States Navy (born 1768)
- August 13 - Martin Archer Shee, Irish portrait painter and president of the Royal Academy (born 1770)
- August 18 - Honoré de Balzac, French author (born 1799)
- August 22 - Nikolaus Lenau, Austrian poet (born 1802)
- August 26 - King Louis-Philippe of France (born 1773)
- August 27 - Thomas Kidd, English classical scholar and schoolmaster (born 1770)
- September 12 - Presley O'Bannon, officer in the United States Marine Corps (born 1784)
- September 22 - Johann Heinrich von Thünen, German economist (born 1783)
- September 23 - José Gervasio Artigas, Uruguayan revolutionary (born 1764)
- October 2 - Sarah Biffen, English painter (born 1784)
- October 29 - Marmaduke Williams, Democratic-Republican U.S. Congressman from North Carolina (born 1774)
- November 2 - Richard Dobbs Spaight, Jr., Democratic governor of the U.S. state of North Carolina (born 1796)
- November 3 - Thomas Ford, governor of Illinois (born 1800)
- November 4 - Gustav Schwab, German classical scholar (born 1792)
- November 19 - Richard Mentor Johnson, Vice President of the United States (born 1780)
- November 22 - Lin Zexu, Chinese politician (born 1785)
- November 30 - Germain Henri Hess, Swiss chemist and doctor (born 1802)
- December 4 - William Sturgeon, English physicist and inventor (born 1783)
- December 10 - François Sulpice Beudant, French mineralogist and geologist (born 1787)
- December 22 - William Plumer, U.S. lawyer and lay preacher (born 1759)
- December 24 - Frédéric Bastiat French author and economist (born 1801)
- December 28 - Heinrich Christian Schumacher, German astronomer (born 1780)

Unknown Date

- Adoniram Judson, U.S. Baptist missionary (born 1788)
- Antoni Potocki, Polish nobleman (born 1780)
- Báb, Bahá'í herald (born 1819)
- Charles Arbuthnot, British Tory politician (born 1767)
- Charles Watkin Williams-Wynn, British Tory politician (born 1775)
- Edward Bickersteth, English evangelical divine (born 1786)
- Elizabeth Simcoe, wife of John Graves Simcoe (born 1762)
- Frances Sargent Osgood, U.S. poet (born 1811)
- François-Xavier-Joseph Droz, French writer on ethics and political science (born 1773)
- Hone Heke, Maori chief and war leader
- Jan Krukowiecki, Polish general (born 1772)
- Jane Porter, English novelist (born 1776)
- José Manuel de la Peña y Peña, interim President of Mexico (born 1789)
- Józef Bem, Polish general (born 1794)
- Juan Martín de Pueyrredón y O'Dogan, Argentine general and politician (born 1776)
- Michał Gedeon Radziwiłł, Polish noble (born 1778)
- Matthew Whitworth-Aylmer, 5th Baron Aylmer, British military officer and colonial administrator (born 1775)
- Owen Stanley, British naval officer and explorer of New Guinea (born 1811)
- Robert Gilfillan, Scottish poet (born 1798)
- Robert Stevenson, Scottish lighthouse engineer (born 1772)
- Tan Tock Seng, Singaporean businessman philanthropists
- Valentín Canalizo, acting president of Mexico (born 1794)
- Saint Vincent Pallotti, Italian missionary (born 1795)
- William Lawson, British explorer of New South Wales (born 1774)
- William Hamilton Maxwell, Scots-Irish novelist (born 1792) Category:1850 ko:1850년 ms:1850 simple:1850

Greenwich

:This page is about Greenwich in England. For other uses see Greenwich (disambiguation) Greenwich (pronounced 'gren-itch' , or by the locals) is a town, now part of the south eastern urban sprawl of London, on the south bank of the River Thames in the London Borough of Greenwich.

Geography

Greenwich is located at a latitude and longitude of 51° 28' 38" N and 0º 0' 0" E/W (by definition).

Sites of interest

London Borough of Greenwich buildings on the bank of the River Thames]] River Thames River Thames River Thames The Royal Greenwich Observatory is located in Greenwich and the Prime Meridian passes through the building. Greenwich Mean Time was at one time based on the time observations made at the Royal Greenwich Observatory, before being superseded by Coordinated Universal Time. While Greenwich no longer hosts a working astronomical observatory, a ball still drops daily to mark the exact moment of noon (UTC) 1pm (13:00)(BST), and there is a good museum of astronomical and navigational tools. The observatory is situated in Greenwich Park, which used to be the grounds of the Royal Palace of Placentia. At the bottom of the park is the National Maritime Museum which also includes the Queen's House, designed by Inigo Jones. It is free to visit all these buildings. Greenwich also features the world's only museum dedicated to fans, the Fan Museum, in a Georgian townhouse at 10–12 Croom's Hill (fee payable). Also on Croom's Hill, on the corner of the junction with Nevada Street is Greenwich Theatre, formerly Crowder's Music Hall. The Cutty Sark (a clipper ship) is moored in a dry dock by the river. Nearby for many years was also displayed Gipsy Moth IV, the 54 yacht sailed by Sir Francis Chichester in his single-handed, 226-day circumnavigation of the globe during 1966–67. In 2004, Gypsy Moth IV was removed from Greenwich for extensive restoration work to be followed by a return to the sea and a second sailing career. By the Cutty Sark, there is a pedestrian tunnel, the Greenwich foot tunnel, to the Isle of Dogs. This comes out in Island Gardens, from where the famous view of Greenwich Hospital painted by Canaletto can be seen. On the riverside in front of the north-east corner of the Hospital is an obelisk erected in memory of Arctic explorer Joseph René Bellot. The Millennium Dome was built on a disused British Gas site here. It is next to North Greenwich tube station, about three miles from Greenwich town centre, north of Charlton. With the Greenwich Millennium Village a new development on the reclaimed land near to the Millennium Dome. The University of Greenwich and the Trinity College of Music are now based in the Greenwich Hospital (formerly the Royal Naval College) buildings between Greenwich Park and the river. These buildings were designed by Sir Christopher Wren and include the Painted Hall, painted by James Thornhill and St Paul's Chapel. These are also open to the public for free. The church dominating the western side of the town centre is St Alfege's Church, designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor in 1714, and marks the place where Archbishop of Canterbury Alfege (also spelt 'Alphege') was murdered in 1012. The town centre features Greenwich Market, a covered market popular with tourists at the weekends. In 1997, maritime Greenwich was added to the list of World Heritage Sites. In recognition of the suburb's astronomical links, Asteroid 2830 has been named 'Greenwich'.

Famous residents

(In alphabetical order)
- Astronomer Royal Sir George Airy lived in the White House, Croom's Hill
- Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, statesman and man of letters, lived in the Ranger's House, Chesterfield Walk, SE10.
- Dr Samuel Johnson, compiler of the first English dictionary, lived in Greenwich Church Street when he first came to London in 1736
- comedian Dan Leno rented accommodation at the Spreadeagle Tavern, Stockwell Street in 1902
- Poet Cecil Day-Lewis lived at 6 Croom's Hill
- Architect Samuel Sanders Teulon was born in Greenwich.
- Artist Sir James Thornhill was said to have lived in Park Hall on Croom's Hill (originally designed for architect John James who never actually occupied the house).
- Interior designer and television presenter Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen lives in the Borough and often appears in support of local activities.
- Architect Sir John Vanbrugh lived at 121 Maze Hill in a house of his own design overlooking Greenwich Park
- Benjamin Waugh, founder of the UK charity the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children lived in Croom's Hill.
- General James Wolfe lived in McCartney House in Croom's Hill, and was buried in St Alfege's Church

Transport

Nearby tube stations:
- North Greenwich tube station can be reached by 188 bus from the town centre. Nearby DLR stations:
- Cutty Sark for Maritime Greenwich
- Island Gardens
- Greenwich (The same as the railway station) Nearby railway stations:
- Greenwich
- Maze Hill
- Blackheath
- Deptford
- Westcombe Park
- Charlton Nearby River service piers:
- Greenwich Pier, close to Cutty Sark for Maritime Greenwich

External links

- [http://www.greenwichwhs.org.uk/ Greenwich World Heritage Site — official website]
- [http://www.greenwich.gov.uk/Greenwich/LeisureCulture/VisitorInformation/GreenwichTouristInformationCentre.htm Greenwich Tourist Information Centre]
- [http://www.greenwich-guide.org.uk/ Greenwich Guide]
- [http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=538681&y=177906&z=2&sv=538681,177906&st=4&mapp=newmap.srf&searchp=newsearch.srf Map] Category:Districts of London Category:World Heritage Sites in England Category:Greenwich Category:River Thames

Category:Craters on Mars

See also List of craters on Mars which includes information on where the names came from. Category:Craters Category:Topography of Mars ja:Category:火星のクレーター

Les Têtes brûlées

Les Têtes brûlées (Baa Baa Black Sheep puis Black Sheep Squadron) est une série télévisée américaine en 35 épisodes de 47 minutes et un pilote de 90 minutes, créée par Stephen J. Cannell et diffusée entre le 21 septembre 1976 et le 6 avril 1978 sur le réseau NBC. En France, la série a été diffusée à partir du 27 mars 1977 sur Antenne 2.

Synopsis

Librement inspirée des exploits de Gregory « Pappy » Boyington et de sa « Black Sheep Squadron » durant la Bataille du Pacifique lors de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, cette série met en scène les aventures de ces pilotes anticonformistes et téméraires pilotant leur valeureux Corsair.

un succès en France

Livrant le portrait d'une équipe de pilotes de chasse insolents sur le théâtre d'opérations du Pacifique, la série a fait l'objet d'un succès important de la part des téléspectateurs en France. Le prestige héroïque des pilotes se mêlait à la romance édulcorée des flirts avec les infirmières de l'hôpital militaire, le tout dans les îles paradisiaques du Pacifique où l'action se déroulait. Cet exotisme était renforcé, pour le téléspectateur français, par le fait que cette zone du conflit était alors peu connue du public, à la fois historiquement et géographiquement; d'où le succèe de la série. Le portrait donné était hollywoodien et donna une impression distincte de la dureté des combats sur le théâtre Pacifique pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale. A cet égard, la série est contemporaine de l'insouciance de la croisière s'amuse. Côté américain, la série permettait de se rappeler le temps d'une guerre "juste" que les pères avaient livrée, alors que les boys revenaient du marasme de la guerre du Viet-Nam. Bien après les années soixante-dix, le film Pearl Harbor reprendrait cette alchimie composée de guerre pour la bonne cause mêlée de romantisme suranné.

Distribution

- Robert Conrad (VF : Jacques Thébault) : Major Gregory « Pappy » Boyington
- Dana Elcar : Colonel Thomas Lard
- James Withmore Jr : Capitaine James W. Gutterman
- Dirk Blocker : Lieutenant Jerry Bragg
- Robert Ginty : Lieutenant Théodore Joseph « T.J ». Wiley
- John Larroquette : Lieutenant Robert « Bob » Anderson
- W. K. Stratton : Lieutenant Lawrence « Larry » Casey (1976-1978)
- Jeff MacKay : Lieutenant Donald « Don » French
- Larry Manetti : Lieutenant Robert « Bob » Boyle
- Joey Aresco : Caporal John David Hutchinson « Hutch » (1976-1977)
- Red West : Sergent Andrew « Andy » Micklin (1977-1978)
- Katherine Cannon : Capitaine Dottie Dixon (1977-1978)
- Jeb Adams : Lieutenant Jeb Pruitt (1978)
- Simon Oakland : Général Thomas Moore
- Nancy Conrad : Lieutenant Nancy Gilmore

Épisodes

Première saison (1976-1977)

# Pilote de 120 min (Flying Misfits) # Un avion pour deux (Best Three Out of Five) # La Petite guerre (Small War) # Le Réprouvé (High Jinx) # Le Prisonnier (Prisoners of War) # Porté disparu (Presumed Dead) # Drôle de cirque (The Meatball Circus) # Stratagème (Up for Grabs) # Candidat au suicide (Anyone for Suicide?) # Le Commando (New Georgia On My Mind) # Opération r