Springtime on Mars brings frost avalanches, gas geysers and explosions (photos)

[Admin]

It’s time to ring in the Martian New Year with a variety of strange sights on the planet’s Northern Hemisphere.

Springtime on Mars brings frost avalanches, gas geysers and explosions (photos) : Read more

 

[Unclear Engineer]

So how is the beginning of a "new year" actually defined for Mars (or any other planet that is not Earth with an artificial calendar)?

 

[Rob77]

So how is the beginning of a "new year" actually defined for Mars (or any other planet that is not Earth with an artificial calendar)?

According to Google search....
The first year on Mars was designated as MY1, and began on April 11, 1955, the date of the northern spring equinox. The system was first described by R. Todd Clancy of the Space Science Institute in a paper on seasonal temperature variation

 

[Unclear Engineer]

That sounds pretty subjective, and not very precise. And probably not even possible for planets where we can't determine surface "seasons".

Seems like a better approach would be to pin it to orbital parameters that we can measure, such as the perihelion or aphelion.

And neither is the way we do it on Earth, but the perihelion is pretty close to January 1st for Earth. However, the "new year" is closest to the beginning of our winter, not our spring.

 

[Canadian]

That sounds pretty subjective, and not very precise. And probably not even possible for planets where we can't determine surface "seasons".

Seems like a better approach would be to pin it to orbital parameters that we can measure, such as the perihelion or aphelion.

And neither is the way we do it on Earth, but the perihelion is pretty close to January 1st for Earth. However, the "new year" is closest to the beginning of our winter, not our spring.

...The begining of our winter.....
It depends where you are. If in the south hemisphere, will be the summer.

 

[Unclear Engineer]

...The begining of our winter.....
It depends where you are. If in the south hemisphere, will be the summer.

True enough.
But, our calendar was developed by folks in our northern hemisphere. So that is where the seasons corresponding to the "beginning" of a "new year" would have been considered.