How our views of Mars have changed over the years.

[Grump Martian]

I have always been fascinated by the planet Mars. Views of Mars began with drawings based on observations from ground based telescopes. The top picture being one from 1879 ( a book,Sun, Moon & Stars).

The second picture shows an impression of Mars as seen from one of it's moons Deimos. Painted by Chesley Bonestell in  1956.

As a child in the 1960's I began borrowing astronomy books from the library. These had black & white photos of Mars from ground based telescopes.

This is what we had into the early 1970's. The third picture showing such an example from my 1973 Hutchinson 20th Century Encyclopedia.

Then in 1976 we had the Viking Mars landers. These provided breath taking pictures from orbit and the surface. We now have data from recent Mars rovers. These pictures are fantastic. When I reflect over the decades of my life,looking at the earliest Mars pictures, I am truely living in that young childs future. Is there no wonderment in space exploration anymore? Or are there even bigger surprises coming our way?

[Nigella Bryant]

December 2022, back garden somewhere in the south west of England, lol. C11 and Zwo Asi 462MC, lol. 

[Grump Martian]

Amazing. The skills available to us in the modern age.