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Sol (borrowed from the Latin word for sun) is a solar day on Mars; that is, a Mars-day. A sol is the apparent interval between two successive returns of the Sun to the same meridian (sundial time) as seen by an observer on Mars. It is one of several units for timekeeping on Mars. A sol is slightly longer than an Earth day.
When accounting solar days on Earth, astronomers often use Julian dates—a simple sequential count of days—for timekeeping purposes. An analogous system for Mars has been proposed "[f]or historical utility with respect to the Earth-based atmospheric, visual mapping, and polar-cap observations of Mars, ... a sequential count of sol-numbers".
This glossary of astronomy is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to astronomy and cosmology, their sub-disciplines, and related fields. Astronomy is concerned with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth. The field of astronomy features an extensive vocabulary and a ...
Phobos orbits so fast (with a period of just under one third of a sol) that it rises in the west and sets in the east, and does so twice per sol; Deimos on the other hand rises in the east and sets in the west, but orbits only a few hours slower than a Martian sol, so it spends about two and a half sols above the horizon at a time.
A tropical year or solar year (or tropical period) is the time that the Sun takes to return to the same position in the sky – as viewed from the Earth or another celestial body of the Solar System – thus completing a full cycle of astronomical seasons.
The idea of transforming Mars into a world more hospitable to human habitation is a regular feature of science fiction. Scientists are now proposing a new approach to warm up Earth's planetary ...
As of 2022, the precise location of the Solar System in the clouds is an open question in astronomy. [ 259 ] Within 10 light-years of the Sun there are relatively few stars, the closest being the triple star system Alpha Centauri , which is about 4.4 light-years away and may be in the Local Bubble's G-Cloud . [ 260 ]
A City on Mars is a counterbalance to the growing optimism over space exploration.