Red Planet

Red Planet, a photo by megan_n_smith_99 on Flickr.

Well, Mars has been on my mind this week - for obvious reasons.

Mars is also called the Red Planet - due to the iron oxides on its surface giving it a reddish color. It's named after the Roman god of war.

In many ways, Mars is similar to Earth, though smaller and less massive. Mars has water as ice at its poles. There is evidence that Mars may once have had seas. There is also evidence that in the past Mars had a magnetic field and plate tectonics like Earth. The highest known mountain in the Solar System is on Mars -- Olympus Mons (Mount Olympus), at 27 KM tall. It's extinct now. 27 KM is three times the height of Mt. Everest, the tallest mountain on Earth.

Some scientists think that Mars may have had living organisms in the past - though there is a lot of debate about that. If there was once life on Mars it would have been long ago when there was liquid water on the surface and likely would have been primitive single cellular organisms similar to the earliest life on Earth.

Mars is pretty interesting, so I may be doing some more paintings and blogging about it more. Stay tuned!

Red Planet
Watercolor and colored pencil on arches watercolor paper
8 x 8"
Available on Etsy.