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Ptolemy's model and his collective work on astronomy was presented in the multi-volume collection later called the Almagest (from the Arabic for "greatest"), which became the authoritative treatise on Western astronomy for the next fourteen centuries. Ptolemy, a Greek living in Alexandria, attempted to address the problem of the orbital motion of Mars. In the fourth century BCE, Aristotle noted that Mars disappeared behind the Moon during an occultation, indicating that the planet was farther away. In Ancient Greece, the planet was known as Πυρόεις. They invented arithmetic methods for making minor corrections to the predicted positions of the planets. For Mars, they knew that the planet made 37 synodic periods, or 42 circuits of the zodiac, every 79 years. By the period of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, the Babylonian astronomers were making regular records of the positions of the planets and systematic observations of their behavior. In Mesopotamian texts, Mars is referred to as the "star of judgement of the fate of the dead." The existence of Mars as a wandering object in the night sky was also recorded by the ancient Egyptian astronomers and, by 1534 BCE, they were familiar with the retrograde motion of the planet. During Sumerian times, Nergal was a minor deity of little significance, but, during later times, his main cult center was the city of Nineveh.
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The ancient Sumerians named Mars Nergal, the god of war and plague. Even more notable are the perihelic oppositions of Mars, which are distinguished because Mars is close to perihelion, making it even closer to Earth.
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The history of observations of Mars is marked by the oppositions of Mars when the planet is closest to Earth and hence is most easily visible, which occur every couple of years. Main article: History of Mars observation Historically, Mars has been observed since ancient times, and over the millennia, has been featured in culture and the arts in ways that have reflected humanity's growing knowledge of it. It is among the brightest objects in Earth's sky, with an apparent magnitude that reaches −2.94, comparable to that of Jupiter and surpassed only by Venus, the Moon and the Sun. This appearance, due to the iron oxide prevalent on its surface, has led to Mars often being called the Red Planet. Mars can be viewed from Earth with the naked eye, as can its reddish coloring. There are also planned future missions to Mars, such as a Mars sample-return mission set to happen in 2026, and the Rosalind Franklin rover mission, which was intended to launch in 2018 but was delayed to 2024 at the earliest, with a more likely launch date at 2028. Two countries have successfully deployed rovers on Mars, the United States first doing so with Sojourner in 1997 and China with Zhurong in 2021. NASA's Viking 1 lander transmitted in 1976 the first images from the Martian surface. Mars has been explored by several uncrewed spacecraft, beginning with Mariner 4 in 1965.
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However, it is unknown whether life has ever existed on Mars. In the distant past, Mars was likely wetter, and thus possibly more suited for life. Both of Mars's polar ice caps appear to be made largely of water. Liquid water on the surface of Mars cannot exist due to low atmospheric pressure, which is less than 1% of the atmospheric pressure on Earth. Days and seasons on Mars are comparable to those of Earth, as the planets have a similar rotation period and tilt of the rotational axis relative to the ecliptic plane. The Borealis basin in the Northern Hemisphere covers approximately 40% of the planet and may be a large impact feature. Some of the most notable surface features on Mars include Olympus Mons, the largest volcano and highest known mountain on any planet in the Solar System, and Valles Marineris, one of the largest canyons in the Solar System. It has two small and irregularly shaped moons: Phobos and Deimos. Mars has surface features such as impact craters, valleys, dunes, and polar ice caps. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere, and has a crust primarily composed of elements similar to Earth's crust, as well as a core made of iron and nickel. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, being larger than only Mercury.