WHY IS MARS CONTINUING TO WOBBLE?
Grab your telescope and gaze at Mars. Are you able to spot something unusual as you focus in on the planet, paying particular attention to its white caps? Not even a little bit? Here’s a clue: we’re referring to a teeny, tiny wobble that occurs as the poles wander from the Red Planet’s axis of rotation. Still can’t see it? Don’t worry – it’s taken scientists decades to spot some rather odd behaviour on the Red Planet.
For the past 18 years, radio tracking observations determined from satellites orbiting the planet have been able to show stark evidence of the Chandler wobble on Mars – a variation of latitude named after American astronomer Seth Carlo Chandler, who discovered the phenomenon in 1891. In simple terms, it means the Red Planet is repeatedly wobbling as it spins, in this case by just ten centimetres (four inches) from the planet’s axis of rotation – that’s why you’re unlikely to see it for yourself. If you’re after a nailed-on explanation of why it’s continuing to happen, then you’re sadly out of
