Palacio Salazar in Santa Cruz de La Palma is hosting a great exhibition on the Earth and Mars until May 26th. It features lots of great photos of Mars, and explains the similarities and differences in geology, atmosphere and weather, and hydrology. Even better, they have a genuine meteorite from Mars.
Did you know that a day on Mars lasts 24.6 hours compared to our 24? And the axial tilt is 25º, compared to our 23º. Mars is 50% farther from the sun than the Earth, and therefore receives just 44% as much sunlight, but its thin atmosphere is largely carbon dioxide and the greenhouse effect means that it’s not all that much colder. A cold winter’s night can drop to -87 ºC, and a baking hot day can reach 20 ºC. That’s similar enough to the Earth that Mars also has sand dunes and dust devils. The exhibition includes a selection of photos for you to guess which planet you’re looking at before you lift the flap for the correct answer. I didn’t get them all right.
The exhibition is open from 9 am to 1 pm and 5-8 pm, Monday to Friday, and on Saturdays from 10 am to 2 pm.
