Mars

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in our solar system. It is named after Mars, the god of war in Roman mythology (the counterpart to Ares in Greek mythology), because of its red color as viewed in the night sky. This feature also earned it the name "The Red Planet." Mars has two moons (Phobos and Deimos) which are both small and oddly-shaped, possibly being captured asteroids. The prefix areo- refers to Mars in the same way geo- refers to Earth—e.g. areology versus geology.

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".

Related Topics:
Moon - 1830 - Johann Heinrich Mädler - Wilhelm Beer - 1840

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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.

Related Topics:
Solis Lacus - Syrtis Major - 1858 - Angelo Secchi

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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:

Related Topics:
1867 - Richard Anthony Proctor - William Rutter Dawes - 1865

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• Kaiser Sea = Syrtis Major
• 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.

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