Sands of Mars. Arthur C. Clarke. Review and Ramble
The Egyptians observed it, so did the Chinese. Indeed, the Chinese called it Yinghuo, which means "dazzling and confusing." The Greeks and the Romans went all trippy and invented myths and legends to bring it into line with their understanding of how things worked. It wasn't until Galileo came on the scene and made his own telescope in 1608 or 1609 that things started to get a bit of observational traction. The problem is, and let's be honest, in a small telescope Mars just isn't that interesting. And it seems that Galileo quickly moved on to taking longer ganders at other objects in the night sky. He spent a lot of time gazing at and making drawings of the moon. We know that he used one of his later telescopes to make the now famous discovery of Jupiter's largest four moons. You have to ramp up the aperture before things start to get interesting, and even then, folks, there are heaps more interesting things to turn your telescope to in the night's sky. A...