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Mars - Change in axial tilt due to climate?The average tilt of Mars' equator with respect to its orbital plane may have increased significantly over the age of the solar system. Obliquity oscillations might have induced changes in the climate, which altered the mass distribution and hence the solar torque on the planet. Viscous deformation attributable to loading by the large polar caps expected at low obliquity may have induced secular changes in the axial tilt. Earth-like effective viscosities can account for virtually the entire present obliquity of 24.4 degrees. Thus the present average tilt of Mars may not be primordial.
Document ID
19900048467
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Rubincam, David Parry
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Date Acquired
August 14, 2013
Publication Date
May 11, 1990
Publication Information
Publication: Science
Volume: 248
ISSN: 0036-8075
Subject Category
Lunar And Planetary Exploration
Accession Number
90A35522
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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