New Theory Explains Ice on Mars

This article, discusses a new theory that wobbles on Mars maybe responsible for giving the planet much more dramatic ice ages than those seen on Earth. Due to the presence of our Moon, the Earth has a relatively stable rotational axis. The Earth is always tilted at around 23 degrees. Mars, though, can wobble up to 10 degrees from its normal 25 degree axis. The resulting change in the axis of Mars would result in a huge difference in the amount of sunlight that reached certain sections of the planet and would dramatically alter the ice coverage on the planet. These dramatic ice ages have been shown to occur every 120,000 years or so. Until now, scientists have been puzzled as to why evidence of such high levels of non-polar ice has been found on the planet. They believe that the tilting of the planet would result in a changing climate, from humid to dry, and that would resulting in many different cycles of ice formation and retreat. Currently scientists expect to find two types of ice on the planet: surface formed ice and ice formed within porous soil.