http://marketsegmentationexamples.com/

market segmentation - bases of segmentation

It is widely thought in marketing that than segmentation is an art, not a science.

The key task is to find the variable, or variables that split the market into actionable segments

There are two types of segmentation variables:

(1) Needs

(2) Profilers

The basic criteria for segmenting a market are customer needs. To find the needs of customers in a market, it is necessary to undertake market research.

Profilers are the descriptive, measurable customer characteristics (such as location, age, nationality, gender, income) that can be used to inform a segmentation exercise.

The most common profilers used in customer segmentation include the following:

Profiler Examples

Geographic

• Region of the country
• Urban or rural

Demographic

• Age, sex, family size
• Income, occupation, education
• Religion, race, nationality

Psychographic

• Social class
• Lifestyle type
• Personality type

Behavioural

• Product usage - e.g. light, medium ,heavy users
• Brand loyalty: none, medium, high 
• Type of user (e.g. with meals, special occasions)

Exhibit 1
Bases for Segmenting Consumer Markets

Exhibit 2
Bases for Segmenting Consumer Markets

So far, we’ve examined two ways in which markets can be segmented using benefit and consumption rate segmentation bases.  There are many other ways in which markets can be segmented.  In deed, let’s shift gears a little bit  and talk in general terms about the possible ways in which markets can be segmented.  This discussion allows us to explore the range of segmentation basis that are available to marketing managers. There are a bunch! Exhibits 1 & 2 summarize the major categories of segmentation bases from which managers can select: 

Geographic Segmentation

Exhibit 3
Geographic Segmentation

Let’s first look at some examples of segmenting markets geographically (Exhibit 3). Probably the two most common ways of creating geographic segments are by dividing larger geographic markets based on existing political boundaries or by natural climatic differences.

Segmentation that uses political boundaries essentially creates geographic segments along existing city, county, state, regional, or even country boundaries.   RJR (Reynolds Tobacco) subdivided the Chicago market into three distinct geographic segments, the north shore, south side and southeast. The company used different promotional campaigns in each segment, reflecting the existence of fundamentally different customer groups in each area of the city.  Frito-Lay and Coca-Cola employ geographic segmentation for U.S. markets quite extensively.  Both firms have identified strong differences in consumer preferences and tastes for their products that are closely associated with regional boundaries.  Frito-Lay, by virtue of its extensive MKIS, segments geographic markets down to specific sections of cities in order to respond to changing market and competitive conditions. In cooperation with Texas’ anti-litter campaign (Don’t Mess With Texas), Coke implemented a dedicated promotional program for Texas emphasizing Texas as a ‘state of mind’ with ‘Coca-Cola Texas — home of the real thing.’^[1]

When markets are segmented based on climatic differences, we are essentially relying on the fact that customers’ needs vary from one climatic region to another. For example, S. C. Johnson employs different formulations of its Raid insect poison for different climatic zones in the United States. This makes sense because the bugs get nastier and more numerous as one travels further south.  As a result, different product formulation are required in different climatic regions. Other logical examples of product-markets that are segmented based on climatic differences include markets for sporting goods, heating and cooling equipment, and clothing.

Demographic Segmentation

Exhibit 4
Demographic Segmentation

Demographic market segments are created by dividing a market into groups based on differences in demographic traits (Exhibit 4). Demographic segmentation is probably the most popular form of segmentation for three reasons:

First of all, consumers’ needs, wants and usage patterns often closely reflect differences in demographic profiles. This essentially means that people with different demographic traits often will have different wants and needs with respect to products. For example, preferences for certain foods are highly correlated with one’s ethnic or religious ties.  Similarly, preferences for music and other forms of entertainment are often tied to differences in age, occupation, and educational backgrounds.

Second, demographic data are very easy to obtain. There is a tremendous amount of published demographic information available from a wide range of sources. Much of this information is available via the Internet. As a matter of fact, you can get at most government census data by accessing the Census Bureau’s homepage. In addition to data available from the Federal government, there is a wealth of information available from state and local governments, and from many private organizations. 

Finally, demographic segmentation is commonly employed because, even if we use another segmentation base (such as benefits or consumption rates), we must still use demographics to ‘profile’ the segments that are created. Because of this, many firms opt to ‘kill two birds with one stone’ and use demographics to simultaneously create and profile market segments.

Creating Segments Based on “Age” 

Exhibit 5
Age Segments

Exhibit 6
Caltrate Targets Seniors

Let’s look at a few examples of demographic segmentation in action (Exhibit 5).  Markets can be segmented based on age differences. For example, American Home Products markets several versions of its Centrum vitamin brand targeted to different age groups, or age segments. In addition to its adult formula (Centrum), the firm markets a children’s formula (Centrum Jr.) and a formula for seniors (Centrum Silver).  These three formulas obviously are geared to different age segments. Of course, this is done primarily because different age categories have somewhat different needs with respect to vitamins.

Whitehall-Robins Healthcare targets its Caltrate formula for replacing lost calcium in bones to seniors (Exhibit 6).  Another good example is provided by McDonalds’ advertising in which children, teens, adults and seniors are targeted with different products and promotion appeals. McDonalds has historically targeted different age groups with different types of advertising. We are all familiar with the Ronald McDonald ads that are targeted to kids. McDonalds’ ads targeted to adults often have stressed the convenient breakfast stop at McDonalds on the way to work, or a quick snack during a harried workday. Most recently, McDonalds has been tailoring specific products to different age segments. Examples of products tailored to adults and seniors are those in the Arch Delux line.  The Arch Delux line is, on average, much lower in fat than traditional McDonalds fare.  

Creating Segments Based on Gender

Exhibit 7
Gender Segmenta

Gender has long been used for segmenting markets for clothing, hair dressing products, cosmetics and magazines. This seems natural.  Men and women have different preferences for such products. Marketers take advantage of differences in tastes between genders by tailoring different products and promotional programs to each.  For example, Procter and Gamble targets its Secret brand specifically to women. Rogain (Exhibit 7 and Video) is targeted mainly to men.  Marlboro and Camel cigarettes are targeted primarily to men, while Eve and Virginia Slims are targeted to women. We even see gender-based segments emerging in somewhat non-traditional product categories. For example, in automobile advertising, Chevrolet in the recent past devoted 30% of its ad budget to women. It also sponsored career conferences aimed primarily at women. This shift in Chevrolet’s advertising budget reflected a fairly dramatic shift in the US economy and cultural values in this country that have resulted in substantially higher levels of purchasing power in female market segments.

Creating Income Segments

Exhibit 8
Income Segments

Income segmentation is employed for products such as automobiles, boats, clothing, cosmetics and travel (Exhibit 8). For such products, marketers are primarily interested in identifying and targeting higher income customer groups because these consumers often have the greatest purchasing power.  Moreover, consumers in these groups are most likely to be attracted to innovations in these product categories.  

Many companies specifically target affluent consumers. In retailing  Neiman Marcus is an upscale department store chain that focuses on affluent market segments. Similarly Rolex and Rolls Royce produce products and have supporting marketing programs geared to higher-end income segments.  Joy perfume is billed as the ‘costliest perfume in the world.’  This Parisian perfume is a classic example of segmenting based on income and positioning using both income and lifestyle. Note also that this perfume is promoted as for sale in Lord & Taylor. Like Neimen Marcus, Lord & Taylor is an upscale department store. Joy’s exclusive distribution in Lord & Taylor is consistent with the positioning strategy that Joy has in mind.

Some firms primarily target lower income groups and develop marketing strategies tailored specifically to these people. Family Dollar Stores is a case in point. The firm specifically targets consumers who earn less than $17,000 annually. Market studies by Family Dollar stores indicate that these lower income families typically spend six dollars per store visit. The Family Dollar marketing strategy is geared accordingly. Other familiar examples of companies that target lower income groups are Wal-Mart in retailing and Hyundai in automobiles. 

Creating Family Life Cycle Segments

Exhibit 9
Family Life Cycle Segments

One last example of demographic segmentation is illustrated by the “family life cycle” (Exhibit 9).  Like social class, family life cycle is a ‘composite demographic’ trait. When segmenting based on stage of the family life cycle, firms specifically recognize that individuals progress through a series of life cycle stages.  The life cycle begins with individuals who are young and single.  It ends with people who are older and unmarried as a result of the death of a spouse. Each of the stages in the family life cycle essentially amounts to a market segment possessing different wants and needs.  Marketers can develop products and tailor their marketing programs to serve these differences. 

Exhibit 10
Family Life Cycle 
Consumption Patterns

Exhibit 10 highlights some differences in consumption patterns expected as one progresses through stages of the family life cycle. Young singles certainly tend to be more interested in products such as sporting goods, sports cars, fashion clothing, entertainment, recreation and related services. As young singles transition to married life (before they have children), their needs and wants begin to change as they begin establishing households. Young marrieds place less emphasis on some of the more frivolous activities enjoyed by young singles.  Instead, we see a trend toward purchasing home furnishings and home appliances.  In general, young married couples will purchase more durables goods that can be used in a family setting. As children come on the scene, things change even more. And, of course, one of the fastest growing market segment’s reflected in the family life cycle is the segment consisting of young single parents. Given the high divorce rates in the United States, we see young single parents, on somewhat limited incomes, looking for ways to save money. These individuals want smaller food portions in grocery stores, smaller and more efficient apartments, inexpensive and convenient child care, and time-saving appliances.  In general, they expect greater value in the products that they buy.  Family life cycle segments comprised of senior citizens are increasingly interested in health care, home security, specialized housing and specialized food products. The linked Caltrate ad represents a typical approach for targeting later stages of the family life cycle.

Creating Psychographic Segments

Exhibit 11
Psychographic Segments for Beer

For example, the beer industry commonly employs AIO surveys to characterize changing life style patterns of beer drinkers.  In one of the few reported lifestyle surveys, an AIO survey was administered to a sample of 300 male beer drinkers.  Their responses were statistically analyzed to determine the existence of any common patterns of responses in the questions that suggested common life-style orientations (Exhibit 11).  Results of the data analysis uncovered a series of distinct “life-style” segments:

Exhibit 12
Ad Promoting a Sports Orientation

pelikula:

D’Ohriginal Gangstah
by Jansen Musico

Manila Kingpin: The Untold Story of Asiong Salonga (2011)
S: Jeorge Estregan Jr., Carla Abellana, John Regala, Baron Geisler

Like a slaughtered calf, Asiong is hung from the ceiling. His hands are tied and his face is bruised and bleeding. He has become a human punching bag to a guy threatening him to leave town for good. Like Jesus on the cross, Asiong is weak and dying, his head dropping lifelessly on his chest as a glob of blood drips from his lips. This opening scene is stark. It’s a moving chiaroscuro that sets the tone for what pledges to be the reawakening of Philippine action cinema. But much like its title antihero, that promise dies rather abruptly.

Much has been said about Manila Kingpin: The Untold Story of Asiong Salonga. Praises and insults had been thrown even before its opening day. Its original director, Tikoy Aguiluz, did not want anything to do with the project because of disputes with the film’s producers. After seeing the reedited work, I could see why. Manila Kingpin is nothing but a gratuitous remake.

In 1961’s Asiong Salonga, pre-president Joseph Estrada gave birth to the role, which then would be taken over by Rudy Fernandez in 1977’s Salonga. In 1990, Jeorge Estregan Jr., better known as E.R. Ejercito or Joseph Estrada’s nephew, revived the movie and filled the title role. With three versions of the same film already in existence, what’s the need for another? What else could possibly be squeezed out from Asiong’s regurgitated story?

This year’s Metro Manila Film Festival big winner is puzzling, to say the least. The film is beautifully shot and framed. The black and white rendering also helps give the film its crisp dated look reminiscent of 1950s Hollywood noir. The use of it is justified, considering that the events taking place are within that decade. The costumes are also on point. The ladies in their glamorous frocks and powdered faces and the gentlemen in their starched, pressed shirts look like they waltzed out of vintage post-WWII fashion catalogs.

Although most of the film’s action sequences are stylistically on par with those of recent Hollywood flicks, they may as well be deemed as copycats. Hints of Quentin Tarantino, Danny Boyle, Wong Kar Wai, and, more blatantly, John Woo might jolt the nerves of discerning moviegoers. Fleeting smoke silhouettes, slow motion gunfire, and sliding on the floor on one’s knees may look spectacular in moderation, but too much of these make scenes cartoony. And though action flicks bend the concept of reality, Manila Kingpin is not The Matrix. The kalesa chase sequence is a stretch considering that no horses were fictiously harmed in the rain of gunfire. It’s a good example of how aesthetics can make a potentially exciting scene downright laughable.

The plot could have also been solid had the writers knitted all the minor story arcs more closely. Asiong’s lovelife, family life, political involvements, and vendettas against different gang bosses all feel disjointed even if they are placed together in a long string of cause-and-effect events. The dialogue isn’t also that well-written. Though appropriate for its story’s setting, it lacks a certain kind of zing that made early action films memorable. What it has, though, is an abundance of good enough actors to pull off their lines.

Manila Kingpin reminds me of The Expendables. It was able to assemble some of the Philippines’ most notable action heroes and villians and cram them all together in one film. The casting of the five gang bosses was inspired, John Regala as Totoy Golem in particular. Also of note is Joko Diaz, whose father, Pacquito Diaz, starred in the original Asiong film. Each of the bosses are notable, and their fight scenes with Asiong are equally fun to watch.

On the flipside, not much can be said about Asiong’s gang. Despite the very talented ensemble, none of them, except for the incredible Baron Geisler as the group’s Judas, Erning, are given the chance to stand out. Ketchup Eusebio has his moments, but they’re few and far between. And although Dennis Padilla is there to deliver the movie’s “iconic” punchline, it feels as if he was only cast for consistency, to keep the Padillas in almost all Asiong films.

The ladies of the cast hold their own, proving that women can do more than be stay-at-home moms. As usual, Carla Abellana is the epitome of perfection in front of the camera. Her acting matches her classic beauty as it graces the screen. Jaycee Parker is also stunning, if only she wasn’t given any lines. Perhaps the biggest casting oddity is Asiong himself. Although E.R. Ejercito took on the role two decades ago, his age alone makes him a weird choice. There must be something about him that I missed, much like the whole point of this flashy remake.

Market segmentation is a strategy that involves dividing a larger market into subsets of consumers who have common needs and applications for the goods and services offered in the market. These subgroups of consumers can be identified by a number of differentdemographics, depending on the purposes behind identifying the groups. Marketing campaigns are often designed and implemented based on this type of customer segmentation.

One of the main reasons for engaging in market segmentation is to help the company understand the needs of the customer base. Often the task of segregating consumers by specific criteria will help the company identify other applications for their products that may or may not have been self evident before. Uncovering these other ideas for use of goods and services may help the company target a larger audience in that same demographicclassification and thus increase market share among a specific sub market base.

Market segmentation strategies can be developed over a wide range of characteristics found among consumers. One group within the market may be identified by gender, while another group may be composed of consumers within a given age group. Location is another common component in market segmentation, as is income level and education level. Generally, there will be at least a few established customers who fall into more than one category, but marketing strategists normally allow for this phenomenon.

market segmentation - bases of segmentation

It is widely thought in marketing that than segmentation is an art, not a science.

The key task is to find the variable, or variables that split the market into actionable segments

There are two types of segmentation variables:

(1) Needs

(2) Profilers

The basic criteria for segmenting a market are customer needs. To find the needs of customers in a market, it is necessary to undertake market research.

Profilers are the descriptive, measurable customer characteristics (such as location, age, nationality, gender, income) that can be used to inform a segmentation exercise.

The most common profilers used in customer segmentation include the following:

Profiler Examples

Geographic

• Region of the country
• Urban or rural

Demographic

• Age, sex, family size
• Income, occupation, education
• Religion, race, nationality

Psychographic

• Social class
• Lifestyle type
• Personality type

Behavioural

• Product usage - e.g. light, medium ,heavy users
• Brand loyalty: none, medium, high 

Market Segmentation

Market segmentation can be defined as the process of dividing a market into different homogeneous groups of consumers.

Market consists of buyers and buyers vary from each other in different ways. Variation depends upon different factors like wants, resources, buying attitude, locations, and buying practices. By segmentation, large heterogeneous markets are divided into smaller segments that can be managed more efficiently and effectively with products and services that match to their unique needs. So, market segmentation is beneficial for the companies serving larger markets.

Criteria for selecting Market Segments

Measurable
A segment should be measurable. It means you should be able to tell how many potential customers and how many businesses are out there in the segment.

Accessible
A segment should be accessible through channels of communication and distribution like: sales force, transportation, distributors, telecom, or internet.

Durable
Segment should not have frequent changes attribute in it.

Substantial
Make sure that size of your segment is large enough to warrant as a segment and large enough to be profitable

Unique Needs
Segments should be different in their response to different marketing efforts (Marketing Mix).

Consumer and business markets cannot be segmented on the bases of same variables because of their inherent differences.

Bases for Consumer Market Segmentation

There are number of variables involved in consumer market segmentation, alone and in combination. These variables are:

• Geographic variables
• Demographic variables
• Psychographic variables
• Behavioral variables

Geographic Segmentation

In geographical segmentation, market is divided into different geographical units like:

• Regions (by country, nation, state, neighborhood)
• Population Density (Urban, suburban, rural)
• City size (Size of area, population size and growth rate)
• Climate (Regions having similar climate pattern)

A company, either serving a few or all geographic segments, needs to put attention on variability of geographic needs and wants. After segmenting consumer market on geographic bases, companies localize their marketing efforts (product, advertising, promotion and sales efforts).

Demographic Segmentation

In demographic segmentation, market is divided into small segments based on demographic variables like:

• Age
• Gender
• Income
• Occupation
• Education
• Social Class
• Generation
• Family size
• Family life cycle
• Home Ownership
• Religion
• Ethnic group/Race
• Nationality

Demographic factors are most important factors for segmenting the customers groups. Consumer needs, wants, usage rate these all depend upon demographic variables. So, considering demographic factors, while defining marketing strategy, is crucial.

Psychographic Segmentation

In Psychographic Segmentation, segments are defined on the basis of social class, lifestyle and personality characteristics.
Psychographic variables include:

• Interests
• Opinions
• Personality
• Self Image
• Activities
• Values
• Attitudes

A segment having demographically grouped consumers may have different psychographic characteristics.

Behavioral Segmentation

In this segmentation market is divided into segments based on consumer knowledge, attitude, use or response to product.
Behavioral variables include:

• Usage Rate
• Product benefits
• Brand Loyalty
• Price Consciousness
• Occasions (holidays like mother’s day, New Year and Eid)
• User Status (First Time, Regular or Potential)

Behavioral segmentation is considered most favorable segmentation tool as it uses those variables that are closely related to the product itself.

Bases for Business Market Segmentation

Business market can be segmented on the bases consumer market variables but because of many inherent differences like

• Businesses are few but purchase in bulk
• Evaluate in depth
• Joint decisions are made

Business market might be segmented on the bases of following variables:

• Company Size: what company sizes should we serve?
• Industry: Which industry to serve?
• Purchasing approaches: Purchasing-function organization, Nature of existing relationships, purchase policies and criteria.
• Product usage
• Situational factors: seasonal trend, urgency: should serve companies needing quick order deliver, Order: focus on large orders or small.
• Geographic: Regional industrial growth rate, Customer concentration, and international macroeconomic factors.

Nicki Minaj - Super Bass (Feat. Ester Dean) Lyrics Video (by RMathers1011)

gusto kong masolo tohh!! :) 

Sun

A transit of Venus

The Sun is the Solar System’s star, and by far its chief component. Its large mass (332,900 Earth masses)^[19] produces temperatures and densities in its core great enough to sustain nuclear fusion,^[20]which releases enormous amounts of energy, mostly radiated into space as electromagnetic radiation, peaking in the 400–700 nm band we call visible light.^[21]

The Sun is classified as a type G2 yellow dwarf, but this name is misleading as, compared to the majority of stars in our galaxy, the Sun is rather large and bright.^[22] Stars are classified by the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram, a graph that plots the brightness of stars with their surface temperatures. Generally, hotter stars are brighter. Stars following this pattern are said to be on the main sequence, and the Sun lies right in the middle of it. However, stars brighter and hotter than the Sun are rare, while substantially dimmer and cooler stars, known as red dwarfs, are common, making up 85 percent of the stars in the galaxy.^[22][23]

Evidence suggests that the Sun’s position on the main sequence puts it in the “prime of life” for a star, in that it has not yet exhausted its store of hydrogen for nuclear fusion. The Sun is growing brighter; early in its history it was 70 percent as bright as it is today.^[24]

The Sun is a population I star; it was born in the later stages of the universe’s evolution, and thus contains more elements heavier than hydrogen and helium (“metals” in astronomical parlance) than older population II stars.^[25] Elements heavier than hydrogen and helium were formed in the cores of ancient and exploding stars, so the first generation of stars had to die before the universe could be enriched with these atoms. The oldest stars contain few metals, while stars born later have more. This high metallicity is thought to have been crucial to the Sun’s developing a planetary system, because planets form from accretion of “metals”.^[26]

Dar’n hot Planet! 

In Roman mythology Mercury is the god of commerce, travel and thievery, the Roman counterpart of the Greek god Hermes, the messenger of the Gods. The planet probably received this name because it moves so quickly across the sky. 
Mercury has been known since at least the time of the Sumerians (3rd millennium BC). It was given two names by the Greeks: Apollo for its apparition as a morning star and Hermes as an evening star. Greek astronomers knew, however, that the two names referred to the same body. Heraclitus even believed that Mercury and Venus orbit the Sun, not the Earth. 

Mercury has been visited by only one spacecraft, Mariner 10. It flew by three times in 1974 and 1975

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2-Venus  is the second planet from the Sun and the sixth largest. Venus’ orbit is the most nearly circular of that of any planet, with an eccentricity of less than 1%. 

May be a suitable planet for Terra when we have the technology, it will be a terrible hot place to occupy!

orbit: 108,200,000 km (0.72 AU) from Sun
diameter: 12,103.6 km
mass: 4.869e24 kg
moon/satellites: Non! 

Venus (Greek: Aphrodite; Babylonian: Ishtar) is the goddess of love and beauty. The planet is so named probably because it is the brightest of the planets known to the ancients. (With a few exceptions, the surface features on Venus are named for female figures.) 
Venus has been known since prehistoric times. It is the brightest object in the sky except for the Sun and the Moon. Like Mercury, it was popularly thought to be two separate bodies: Eosphorus as the morning star and Hesperus as the evening star, but the Greek astronomers knew better. 

Since Venus is an inferior planet, it shows phases when viewed with a telescope from the perspective of Earth. Galileo’s observation of this phenomenon was important evidence in favor of Copernicus’s heliocentric theory of the solar system. 

The first spacecraft to visit Venus was Mariner 2 in 1962. It was subsequently visited by many others (more than 20 in all so far), including Pioneer Venus and the Soviet Venera 7 the first spacecraft to land on another planet, and Venera 9 which returned the first photographs of the surface (left). Most recently, the orbiting US spacecraft Magellan produced detailed maps of Venus’ surface using radar (above). 

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3-Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the fifth largest:

This planet is inhabited by a race who call them self “Human” i am not sure what the difference is between the “Animals” and the “Humans” but one thing is for sure, some of them kill to survive, other just do it for fun or greed!
Just bypass this planet it’s not ready for contact  or interference at this time, perhaps in the future or for about one hundred year from no. Survival chance for the next millenium: 30%

orbit: 149,600,000 km (1.00 AU) from Sun
diameter: 12,756.3 km
mass: 5.9736e24 kg
moon/satellites: Moon

Earth is the only planet whose English name does not derive from Greek/Roman mythology. The name derives from Old English and Germanic. There are, of course, hundreds of other names for the planet in other languages. In Roman Mythology, the goddess of the Earth was Tellus - the fertile soil (Greek: Gaia, terra mater - Mother Earth). 
It was not until the time of Copernicus (the sixteenth century) that it was understood that the Earth is just another planet. 

Earth, of course, can be studied without the aid of spacecraft. Nevertheless it was not until the twentieth century that we had maps of the entire planet. Pictures of the planet taken from space are of considerable importance; for example, they are an enormous help in weather prediction and especially in tracking and predicting hurricanes. And they are extraordinarily beautiful.

 
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4-Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the seventh largest: 

A once so beautifully green and inhabitated Mars before the
human race ever existed was hit by a meteor, and all the surviving inhabitants
escape to another place in the galaxy, our mother was left behind. Just to tell us
when the time is right whom our ancestors were!

orbit: 227,940,000 km (1.52 AU) from Sun
diameter: 6,794 km
mass: 6.4219e23 kg
Moon/satellites: Phobos and Deimos

Mars (Greek: Ares) is the god of War. The planet probably got this name due to its red color; Mars is sometimes referred to as the Red Planet. (An interesting side note: the Roman god Mars was a god of agriculture before becoming associated with the Greek Ares; those in favor of colonizing and terraforming Mars may prefer this symbolism.) The name of the month March derives from Mars. 
Mars has been known since prehistoric times. It is still a favorite of science fiction writers as the most favorable place in the Solar System (other than Earth!) for human habitation. But the famous “canals” “seen” by Lowell and others were, unfortunately, just as imaginary as Barsoomian princesses. 

The first spacecraft to visit Mars was Mariner 4 in 1965. Several others followed including Mars 2, the first spacecraft to land on Mars and the two Viking landers in 1976 (left). Ending a long 20 year hiatus, Mars Pathfinder landed successfully on Mars on 1997 July 4 (right). 

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5-Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and by far the largest. Jupiter is more than twice as massive as all the other planets combined (318 times Earth).

The Huge Giant!
 
orbit: 778,330,000 km (5.20 AU) from Sun
diameter: 142,984 km (equatorial)
mass: 1.900e27 kg
moon/satellites: Metis, Adrastea, Amalthea, Thebe, Io, Europa, 
(known in many Science Fiction books-Ganymede, Callisto), Leda, Himalia, Lysithea, Elara, Ananke, Carme, Pasiphae and Sinope 

Jupiter (a.k.a. Jove; Greek Zeus) was the King of the Gods, the ruler of Olympus and the patron of the Roman state. Zeus was the son of Cronus (Saturn). 
Jupiter is the fourth brightest object in the sky (after the Sun, the Moon and Venus; at some times Mars is also brighter). It has been known since prehistoric times. Galileo’s discovery, in 1610, of Jupiter’s four large moons Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto (now known as the Galilean moons) was the first discovery of a center of motion not apparently centered on the Earth. It was a major point in favor of Copernicus’s heliocentric theory of the motions of the planets; Galileo’s outspoken support of the Copernican theory got him arrested by the Inquisition. He was forced to recant his beliefs and was imprisoned for the rest of his life. 

Jupiter was first visited by Pioneer 10 in 1973 and later by Pioneer 11, Voyager 1, Voyager 2 and Ulysses. The spacecraft Galileo is currently in orbit around Jupiter and will be sending back data for at least the next two years. 

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6-Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest: 

orbit: 1,429,400,000 km (9.54 AU) from Sun
diameter: 120,536 km (equatorial)
mass: 5.68e26 kg
moon/satellites:Pan, Atlas, Prometheus, Pandora, Epimetheus, Janus, Mimas, Enceladus 
Tethys, Telesto, Calypso, Dione, Helene, Rhea, Titan, Hyperion,
Iapetus and Phoebe 

In Roman mythology, Saturn is the god of agriculture. The associated Greek god, Cronus, was the son of Uranus and Gaia and the father of Zeus (Jupiter). Saturn is the root of the English word “Saturday” (see Appendix 4). 
Saturn has been known since prehistoric times. Galileo was the first to observe it with a telescope in 1610; he noted its odd appearance but was confused by it. Early observations of Saturn were complicated by the fact that the Earth passes through the plane of Saturn’s rings every few years as Saturn moves in its orbit. A low resolution image of Saturn therefore changes drastically. It was not until 1659 that Christiaan Huygens correctly inferred the geometry of the rings. Saturn’s rings remained unique in the known solar system until 1977 when very faint rings were discovered around Uranus (and shortly thereafter around Jupiter and Neptune). 

Saturn was first visited by Pioneer 11 in 1979 and later by Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. Cassini, now on its way, will arrive in 2004. 

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7-Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun and the third largest (by diameter). 

orbit: 2,870,990,000 km (19.218 AU) from Sun
diameter: 51,118 km (equatorial)
mass: 8.683e25 kg
moon/satellites: Cordelia, Ophelia, Bianca, Cressida, Desdemona, Juliet, Portia,
Rosalind, Belinda, Puck, Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, Oberon 
Caliban, Sycorax.


Uranus is the ancient Greek deity of the Heavens, the earliest supreme god. Uranus was the son and mate of Gaia the father of Cronus (Saturn) and of the Cyclopes and Titans (predecessors of the Olympian gods). 

Uranus, the first planet discovered in modern times, was discovered by William Herschel while systematicly searching the sky with his telescope on March 13, 1781. It had actually been seen many times before but ignored as simply another star (the earliest recorded sighting was in 1690 when John Flamsteed cataloged it as 34 Tauri). Herschel named it “the Georgium Sidus” (the Georgian Planet) in honor of his patron, the infamous (to Americans) King George III of England; others called it “Herschel”. The name “Uranus” was first proposed by Bode in conformity with the other planetary names from classical mythology but didn’t come into common use until 1850. 

Uranus has been visited by only one spacecraft, Voyager 2 on Jan 24 1986. 

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8-Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun and the fourth largest (by diameter). Neptune is smaller in diameter but larger in mass than Uranus.
 
orbit: 4,504,000,000 km (30.06 AU) from Sun
diameter: 49,532 km (equatorial)
mass: 1.0247e26 kg
moon/satellites: Naiad, Thalassa, Despina, Galatea, Larissa, Proteus, Triton and Nereid 


In Roman mythology Neptune (Greek: Poseidon) was the god of the Sea. 
After the discovery of Uranus, it was noticed that its orbit was not as it should be in accordance with Newton’s laws. It was therefore predicted that another more distant planet must be perturbing Uranus’ orbit. Neptune was first observed by Galle and d’Arrest on 1846 Sept 23 near to the locations independently predicted by Adams and Le Verrier from calculations based on the observed positions of Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus. An international dispute arose between the English and French over priority and the right to name the new planet; they are now jointly credited with Neptune’s discovery. Subsequent observations have shown that the orbits calculated by Adams and Le Verrier diverge from Neptune’s actual orbit fairly quickly. Had the search for the planet taken place a few years earlier or later it would not have been found anywhere near the predicted location. 

Neptune has been visited by only one spacecraft, Voyager 2 on Aug 25 1989. Almost everything we know about Neptune comes from this encounter

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9-Pluto   Degradation as a planet,  the new name -134340 is the farthest “planet-object”  from the Sun but not the smallest. Pluto is smaller than seven of the solar system’s moons (the Moon, Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, Titan and Triton). 

orbit: 5,913,520,000 km (39.5 AU) from the Sun (average)
diameter: 2274 km
mass: 1.27e22 kg
moon/satellites: ?

In Roman mythology, Pluto (Greek: Hades) is the god of the underworld. The planet received this name (after many other suggestions) perhaps because it’s so far from the Sun that it is in perpetual darkness and perhaps because “PL” are the initials of Percival Lowell. 
Pluto was discovered in 1930 by a fortunate accident. Calculations which later turned out to be in error had predicted a planet beyond Neptune, based on the motions of Uranus and Neptune. 

After the discovery of Pluto, it was quickly determined that Pluto was too small to account for the discrepancies in the orbits of the other planets. The search for Planet X continued but nothing was found. Nor is it likely that it ever will be: the discrepancies vanish if the mass of Neptune determined from the Voyager 2 encounter with Neptune is used. There is no tenth planet.

An artists concept of the Phobos-Grunt Mission. Credit: Roscosmos

Editor’s note: Dr. David Warmflash, principal science lead for the US team from the LIFE experiment on board the Phobos-Grunt spacecraft, provides an update on the mission for Universe Today.

It has been trapped in low Earth orbit for more than a month. So low is the orbit that it moves too fast to be contacted – unless controllers on the ground just happen to beam a signal at some unlikely angle. So short does its battery power last that it must be in sunlight while also in position to receive signals. Then, it must still have power to send telemetry back to the ground.

Even with these obstacles, Russia’s Phobos- Grunt probe did manage to communicate with the European Space Agency’s (ESA) antenna in Perth, Australia twice a couple of weeks ago, indicating that some of its systems were functioning. But subsequent attempts at communication have failed, despite the addition of ESA’s Canary Islands antenna at Maspalomas to the worldwide effort to reestablish control over the spacecraft.
 
Tracking of Grunt’s orbit has shown that its high point (apogee) and low point (perigee) continue to decrease, measuring about 289 kilometers and 203 kilometers in altitude, respectively, the last time I checked. Stories out of Russia in recent days describe how electrical cables found to be malfunctioning weeks before the launch were cut and connections re-soldered in a hurry to have the craft ready. Add to this the fact that the major sources on developments with the Grunt mission since its November 9 launch – Ria Novosti, the Russian Space Web, and ESA operations – all expect the craft to reenter Earth’s atmosphere in early January.

Taking all of this into account, it seems unlikely that Phobos-Grunt will ever respond to a signal again and say, “privyet’, much less turn on its engines and warp out of orbit. But there is an opportunity coming, a period when the odds that are stacked against the spacecraft may improve just a little.

Beginning Tuesday, December 13 at 17:00 universal time (UT) to Wednesday December 14, 23:00, Phobos-Grunt will be in sunlight throughout its entire orbit. It is not completely clear whether or not ESA will attempt to contact the probe during this period from Perth, or Maspalomas. Although attempts from Maspalomas were made throughout last week, the same attempts were scheduled to end on Friday, December 9. On the other hand, in a letter informing scientists participating in the mission that failure was the outcome, Phobos-Grunt science director, Lev Zelenyi, wrote: “Lavochkin Association specialists will continue their attempts to establish connection with the spacecraft and send commands until the very end of its existence.” Thus, despite the fact that the Russian Grunt team now is focused on the issue of reentry, we should not be surprised if they ask ESA to make one more attempt on Tuesday.

Will the greater than usual amount of sunlight allow the spacecraft’s communication system to work better than it usually does when it travels over tracking stations? Maybe yes, and maybe no. We should not get our hopes up that the craft will actually do anything but fall to Earth, and we’ve already discussed the possibility of the craft’s return capsule coming back in one piece

MESSENGER Team Presents Latest Mercury Findings at AGU Fall Meeting

Members of the MESSENGER team will present a broad range of findings from the spacecraft’s orbital investigation of Mercury during the 2011 Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), which takes place this week, December 5-9, in San Francisco. In 63 oral and poster presentations spanning 13 technical sessions, team scientists will report on the analysis and interpretation of observations made by MESSENGER’s instruments since the spacecraft entered orbit around Mercury in March 2011.

The majority of the MESSENGER papers will be given in three special sessions on December 8. Those papers will report new findings on the topography and gravity field of Mercury’s northern hemisphere, Mercury’s internal structure and dynamics, the elemental composition of Mercury’s surface, the variation of Mercury’s surface spectral reflectance, Mercury’s distinctive hollows, plains volcanism on Mercury, characteristics of impact craters on Mercury, deformation of Mercury’s surface, Mercury’s internal magnetic field, the structure and variability of Mercury’s exosphere, the structure and dynamics of Mercury’s magnetosphere, energetic particles and plasma ions in Mercury’s vicinity, and Mercury’s interplanetary environment.

MESSENGER Principal Investigator Sean Solomon will also deliver AGU’s Shoemaker Lecture to provide an overview of all that’s been discovered about the innermost planet.

A set of images of the Venus south polar vortex in infrared light (at 3.8 microns) acquired by the Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer instrument on ESA’s Venus Express spacecraft. The images show the temperature of the cloud tops at about 65 km (40.4 miles) altitude. A darker region corresponds to higher temperature and thus lower altitude. The center of the vortex, at a temperature of about 250K (around minus 9.7 degrees Fahrenheit), is the deepest zone, exhibiting the highest temperature. Credit: ESA/VIRTIS/INAF-IASF/Obs. de Paris-LESIA

At first glance, a weather forecaster for Venus would have either a really easy or a really boring job, depending on your point of view. The climate on Venus is widely known to be unpleasant — at the surface, the planet roasts at more than 800 degrees Fahrenheit under a suffocating blanket of sulfuric acid clouds and a crushing atmosphere more than 90 times the pressure of Earth’s. Intrepid future explorers should abandon any hope for better days, however, because it won’t change much.

“Any variability in the weather on Venus is noteworthy, because the planet has so many features to keep atmospheric conditions the same,” says Dr. Tim Livengood, a researcher with the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education, Capitol Heights, Md., and now with the University of Maryland, College Park, Md.

“Earth has seasons because its rotation axis is tilted by about 23 degrees, which changes the intensity of sunlight and the length of the day in each hemisphere throughout the year. However, Venus has been tilted so much, it’s almost completely upside down, leaving it with a net tilt of less than three degrees from the sun, so the seasonal effect is negligible,” explains Livengood, who is stationed at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. “Also, its orbit is even more circular than Earth’s, which prevents it from getting significantly hotter or cooler by moving closer to or further away from the sun. And while you might expect things to cool down at night — especially since Venus rotates so slowly that its night lasts almost two Earth months — the thick atmosphere and sulfuric acid clouds act like a blanket while winds move heat around, keeping temperatures pretty even. Finally, almost all the planet’s water has escaped to space, so you don’t get any storms or precipitation like on Earth where water evaporates and condenses as clouds.”

However, higher up, the weather gets more interesting, according to a new study of old data by NASA and international scientists. The team detected strange things going on in data from telescopic observations of Venus in infrared light at about 68 miles (110 kilometers) above the planet’s surface, in cold, clear air above the acid clouds, in two layers called the mesosphere and the thermosphere.

“Although the air over the polar regions in these upper atmospheric layers on Venus was colder than the air over the equator in most measurements, occasionally it appeared to be warmer,” said Dr. Theodor Kostiuk of NASA Goddard. “In Earth’s atmosphere, a circulation pattern called a ‘Hadley cell’ occurs when warm air rises over the equator and flows toward the poles, where it cools and sinks. Since the atmosphere is denser closer to the surface, the descending air gets compressed and warms the upper atmosphere over Earth’s poles. We saw the opposite on Venus. In addition, although the surface temperature is fairly even, we’ve seen substantial changes - up to 54 degrees Fahrenheit (about 30 K change) - within a few Earth days in the mesosphere - thermosphere layers over low latitudes on Venus. The poles appeared to be more stable, but we still saw changes up to 27 degrees Fahrenheit (about 15 K change).”

Kostiuk and Livengood are co-authors of a paper about these observations that appeared July 23 in the online edition of the journal Icarus.

“The mesosphere and thermosphere of Venus are dynamically active,” said lead author Dr. Guido Sonnabend of the University of Cologne, Germany. “Wind patterns resulting from solar heating and east to west zonal winds compete, possibly resulting in altered local temperatures and their variability over time.”

This upper atmospheric variability could have many possible causes, according to the team. Turbulence from global air currents at different altitudes flowing at more than 200 miles per hour in opposite directions could exchange hot air from below with cold air from above to force changes in the upper atmosphere. Also, giant vortexes swirl around each pole. They, too, could generate turbulence and change the pressure, causing the temperature to vary.

Since the atmospheric layers the team observed are above the cloud blanket, they may be affected by changes in sunlight intensity as day transitions to night, or as latitude increases toward the poles. These layers are high enough that they could even be affected by solar activity (the solar cycle), such as solar explosions called flares and eruptions of solar material called coronal mass ejections.

Changes were seen over periods spanning days, to weeks, to a decade. Temperatures measured in 1990-91 are warmer than in 2009. Measurements obtained in 2007 using Goddard’s Heterodyne Instrument for Planetary Wind and Composition (HIPWAC) observed warmer temperature in the equatorial region than in 2009. Having seen that the atmosphere can change, a lot more observations are needed to determine how so many phenomena can affect Venus’ upper atmosphere over different intervals, according to the team.

“In addition to all these changes, we saw warmer temperatures than those predicted for this altitude by the leading accepted model, the Venus International Reference Atmosphere model,” said Kostiuk. “This tells us that we have lots of work to do updating our upper atmospheric circulation model for Venus.”

HIPWAC instrument on NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility The Heterodyne Instrument for Planetary Winds And Composition (HIPWAC) on the NASA 3-meter Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) on Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii. HIPWAC is the successor to the older Infrared Heterodyne Spectrometer (IRHS) instrument. Credit: NASA

Although Venus is often referred to as Earth’s twin, since they are almost the same size, it ended up with a climate very different from Earth. A deeper understanding of Venus’ atmosphere will let researchers compare it to the evolution of Earth’s atmosphere, giving insight as to why Earth now teems with life while Venus suffered a hellish fate.

The team measured temperature and wind speeds in Venus’ upper atmosphere by observing an infrared glow emitted by carbon dioxide (CO2) molecules when they were energized by light from the sun. Infrared light is invisible to the human eye and is perceived by us as heat, but it can be detected by special instruments. In the research, it appeared as a line on a graph from a spectrometer, an instrument that separates light into its component colors, each of which corresponds to a specific frequency. The width of the line revealed the temperature, while shifts in its frequency gave the wind speed.

The researchers compared observations from 1990 and 1991 using Goddard’s Infrared Heterodyne Spectrometer instrument at NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, to observations from 2009 using the Cologne Tunable Heterodyne Infrared Spectrometer instrument at the National Optical Astronomy Observatory’s McMath Telescope at Kitt Peak, Ariz.

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PRESS RELEASE
Date Released: Thursday, December 8, 2011
Source: NASA HQ

According to NASA PAO: “Representatives from NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) met in Paris on 7 December 2011 to explore partnership opportunities involving future Mars missions. Further technical discussions will continue over the coming months to confirm the interest of all three partners. Any NASA decisions on this matter will be based on the outcome of these technical discussions and following the release of the President’s FY2013 budget, in February 2012. NASA is committed to a robust Mars exploration program, both robotic and human. The U.S. spends more on Mars exploration than any other nation in the world, and is the only country to ever successfully land and operate a rover on Mars. And of course, we just launched the most sophisticated Mars rover ever built.”

In a finding of significance in the search for life beyond Earth, scientists have discovered what appears to be a body of liquid water the volume of the North American Great Lakes locked inside the icy shell of Jupiter’s moon Europa - which could represent a new potential habitat for life.

Many more such lakes exist throughout the shallow regions of Europa’s shell, the researchers predict in an online article in the journal Nature. Further increasing the potential for life, many of these lakes are covered by floating ice shelves that seem to be collapsing, providing a mechanism for transferring nutrients and energy between the surface and a vast ocean already thought to exist below the thick ice shell.

“The potential for exchange of material between the surface and subsurface is a big key for astrobiology,” says Wes Patterson, a planetary scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., and a co-author of the study. “Europa’s subsurface harbors much of what we believe is necessary for life but chemical nutrients found at the surface are likely vital for driving biology.”

“One opinion in the scientific community has been, ‘If the ice shell is thick, that’s bad for biology - that it might mean the surface isn’t communicating with the underlying ocean,” adds Britney Schmidt, the paper’s lead author and a postdoctoral fellow at The University of Texas at Austin’s Institute for Geophysics. “Now we see evidence that it’s a thick ice shell that can mix vigorously, and new evidence for giant shallow lakes. That could make Europa and its ocean more habitable.”

The scientists focused on Galileo spacecraft images of two roughly circular, bumpy features on Europa’s surface called chaos terrains. Based on similar processes seen here on Earth — on ice shelves and under glaciers overlaying volcanoes — they developed a four-step model to explain how the features form on Europa. It resolves several conflicting observations, some of which seemed to suggest that the ice shell is thick and others that it is thin.

While one of the chaos terrains appears to be fully formed, the other might still be forming - an indication that Europa’s surface is still geologically active. “For quite some time, Europa geologists have been struggling figure out what these features are and how they form,” says APL’s Louise Prockter, a senior planetary scientist who has conducted numerous studies of Europa. “This is the first time that anyone has come up with an end-to-end model that explains what we see on the surface.”

The scientists have good reason to believe their model is correct, based on observations of Europa from the Galileo spacecraft and of Earth. Still, because the inferred lakes are several kilometers below the surface, the only true confirmation of their presence would come from a future spacecraft mission designed to probe the ice shell. Such a mission was rated as one of the highest priority flagship missions by the National Research Council’s recent Planetary Science Decadal Survey and is currently being studied by NASA.

“If we’re ever to send a landed mission to Europa, these areas would be great places to study,” Prockter says.

Cassini Radar View of Southern Enceladus

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft obtained these views of the south polar area of Saturn’s moon Enceladus in visible and near-visible (ultraviolet and infrared) light and synthetic-aperture radar (SAR). The region is south of 45 degrees south latitude. The SAR image, acquired November 6, 2011, is shown as an arc running from upper left to lower right, accented in light blue. Bright and dark edges of this arc are artifacts of the radar imaging process. The background image was taken with visible-light (see Map of Enceladus - December 2006), with color added for emphasis (see below). Visible-light images, like we normally see in photographs, are mostly bright or dark depending on their target’s chemical composition, while brightness in SAR images usually depends on how rough or smooth the surface is. The SAR swath is about 15 miles (25 kilometers) wide and is centered at 65 south latitude, 295 west longitude.

The color in the background image is used to separate different materials using ultraviolet, visible and infrared images taken from 2004 to 2009 (see Enhanced-Color Maps of Saturn Inner Moons). Blue colors represent icy material that originated in the plumes and fell back to the surface. Since these images were taken using illumination by sunlight, they sense ice particles and other roughness in the wavelength range of 50 to 100 microns. The SAR swath uses microwaves 2 centimeters long in wavelength to “light” the surface, so it senses roughness in that range. In addition, the SAR may be seeing that roughness slightly under the surface.

From east-to-west (bottom right to top left), the SAR image crosses near-south-polar terrain close to many of the active sulci, which are long fissures. Throughout the scene, the surface is covered with a network of linear and near-linear grooves and fractures, interpreted to be due to extension, or pulling apart, of Enceladus’ crust. These are dominated by a set of larger grooves, about a mile (kilometer) wide, running many tens of miles (kilometers) in length, and smaller grooves about 700 feet (200 meters) wide.

A v-shaped region near the lower (eastern) end of the SAR swath, bounded by large faults, appears brighter to radar than most other areas, most likely the result of a rougher surface in the 2-centimeter-wavelength scale. Within, the terrain appears to be slightly more broken up, possibly the result of more dynamic tectonic forces disrupting the surface. The few-miles-wide (few-kilometers-wide) fault bounding the westernmost edge (top) edge of this area looks similar to the four active sulci that run parallel to it, suggesting that it is formed by the same processes; this feature is discussed in Groovy Enceladus. A similar fault about 1 to 2 miles (2 to 3 kilometers) wide runs along the center of much of the SAR swath for at least 47 miles (75 kilometers).

Farther west still, the swath crosses another v-shaped, SAR-bright region bounded by large faults, including part of the Mosul Sulci system (see Enceladus Sparkles). Once again, the network of fractures within the bright region appears to be rougher and more broken up. It also coincides with unusually colored terrain surrounding the active sulci (seen in the background images), and so possibly indicates a relatively young or active surface.

Anaximander

Anaximander /əˌnæksɨˈmændər/ (Ancient Greek: Ἀναξίμανδρος, Anaximandros; c. 610 – c. 546 BC) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher who lived in Miletus, a city of Ionia; Milet in modern Turkey. He belonged to the Milesian school and learned the teachings of his masterThales. He succeeded Thales and became the second master of that school where he countedAnaximenes and arguably, Pythagoras amongst his pupils.

Little of his life and work is known today. According to available historical documents, he is the first philosopher known to have written down his studies,^[2] although only one fragment of his work remains. Fragmentary testimonies found in documents after his death provide a portrait of the man.

Anaximander was one of the earliest Greek thinkers at the start of the Axial Age, the period from approximately 700 BC to 200 BC, during which similarly revolutionary thinking appeared in China, India, Iran, the Near East, and Ancient Greece. He was an early proponent of scienceand tried to observe and explain different aspects of the universe, with a particular interest in its origins, claiming that nature is ruled by laws, just like human societies, and anything that disturbs the balance of nature does not last long.^[3] Like many thinkers of his time, Anaximander’s contributions to philosophy relate to many disciplines. In astronomy, he tried to describe the mechanics of celestial bodies in relation to the Earth. In physics, his postulation that the indefinite (or apeiron) was the source of all things led Greek philosophy to a new level of conceptual abstraction. His knowledge of geometry allowed him to introduce the gnomon in Greece. He created a map of the world that contributed greatly to the advancement ofgeography. He was also involved in the politics of Miletus and was sent as a leader to one of its colonies.

Anaximander claimed that an ‘indefinite’ (apeiron) principle gives rise to all natural phenomena. Carl Sagan claims that he conducted the earliest recorded scientific experiment.^[4]

Contents

• 1 Biography
• 2 Theories
  • 2.1 Apeiron
  • 2.2 Cosmology
  • 2.3 Multiple worlds
  • 2.4 Meteorological phenomena
  • 2.5 Origin of humankind
• 3 Other accomplishments
  • 3.1 Cartography
  • 3.2 Gnomon
  • 3.3 Prediction of an earthquake
• 4 Interpretations
• 5 Works
• 6 See also
• 7 Footnotes
• 8 References
  • 8.1 Primary sources
  • 8.2 Secondary sources
• 9 External links

[edit]Biography

Anaximander, son of Praxiades, was born in Miletus during the third year of the 42nd Olympiad (610 BC).^[5] According to Apollodorus, Greek grammarian of the 2nd century BC, he was sixty-four years old during the second year of the 58th Olympiad (547-546 BC), and died shortly afterwards.^[6]

Establishing a timeline of his work is now impossible, since no document provides chronological references. Themistius, a 4th centuryByzantine rhethorician, mentions that he was the “first of the known Greeks to publish a written document on nature.” Therefore his texts would be amongst the earliest written in prose, at least in the Western world. By the time of Plato, his philosophy was almost forgotten, andAristotle, his successor Theophrastus and a few doxographers provide us with the little information that remains. However, we know from Aristotle that Thales, also from Miletus, precedes Anaximander. It is debatable whether Thales actually was the teacher of Anaximander, but there is no doubt that Anaximander was influenced by Thales’ theory that everything is derived from water. One thing that is not debatable is that even the ancient Greeks considered Anaximander to be from the Monist school which began in Miletus with Thales followed by Anaximander and finished with Anaximenes.^[7] 3rd century Roman rhetorician Aelian depicts him as leader of the Milesian colony toApollonia on the Black Sea coast, and hence some have inferred that he was a prominent citizen. Indeed, Various History (III, 17) explains that philosophers sometimes also dealt with political matters. It is very likely that leaders of Miletus sent him there as a legislator to create a constitution or simply to maintain the colony’s allegiance.

[edit]Theories

Anaximander’s theories were influenced by the Greek mythical tradition, and by some ideas of Thales – the father of philosophy – as well as by observations made by older civilizations in the East (especially by the Babylonian astrologists).^[8] All these were elaborated rationally. In his desire to find some universal principle, he assumed like traditional religion the existence of a cosmic order and in elaborating his ideas on this he used the old mythical language which ascribed divine control to various spheres of reality. This was a common practice for the Greek philosophers in a society which saw gods everywhere, therefore they could fit their ideas into a tolerably elastic system.^[9]

Some scholars^[10] saw a gap between the existing mythical and the new rational way of thought which is the main characteristic of thearchaic period (8th to 6th century BC) in the Greek city states. Because of this, they didn’t hesitate to speak for a ‘Greek miracle’. But if we follow carefully the course of Anaximander’s ideas, we will notice that there was not such an abrupt break as initially appears. The basic elements of nature (water, air, fire, earth) which the first Greek philosophers believed that constituted the universe represent in fact theprimordial forces of previous thought. Their collision produced what the mythical tradition had called cosmic harmony. In the old cosmogonies– Hesiod (8th-7th century BC) and Pherecydes (6th century BC) – Zeus establishes his order in the world by destroying the powers which were threatening this harmony, (the Titans). Anaximander claimed that the cosmic order is not monarchic but geometric and this causes the equilibrium of the earth which is lying in the centre of the universe. This is the projection on nature of a new political order and a new space organized around a centre which is the static point of the system in the society as in nature.^[11] In this space there is isonomy (equal rights) and all the forces are symmetrical and transferrable. The decisions are now taken by the assembly of demos in the agora which is lying in the middle of the city.^[12]

The same rational way of thought led him to introduce the abstract apeiron (indefinite, infinite, boundless, unlimited^[13]) as an origin of the universe, a concept that is probably influenced by the original Chaos (gaping void, abyss, formless state) of the mythical Greek cosmogonyfrom which everything else appeared.^[14] It also takes notice of the mutual changes between the four elements. Origin, then, must be something else unlimited in its source, that could create without experiencing decay, so that genesis would never stop.^[15]

[edit]Apeiron

The bishop Hippolytus of Rome (I, 5), and the later 6th century Byzantine philosopher Simplicius of Cilicia, attribute to Anaximander the earliest use of the word apeíron (ἄπειρον infinite or limitless) to designate the original principle. He was the first philosopher to employ, in a philosophical context, the term arkhế (ἀρχή), which until then had meant beginning or origin. For him, it became no longer a mere point in time, but a source that could perpetually give birth to whatever will be. The indefiniteness is spatial in early usages as in Homer (indefinite sea) and as in Xenophanes (6th century BC) who said that the earth went down indefinitely (to apeiron) i.e. beyond the imagination or concept of men.^[16]

Aristotle writes (Metaphysics, I III 3-4) that the Pre-Socratics were searching for the element that constitutes all things. While each pre-Socratic philosopher gave a different answer as to the identity of this element (water for Thales and air for Anaximenes), Anaximander understood the beginning or first principle to be an endless, unlimited primordial mass (apeiron), subject to neither old age nor decay, that perpetually yielded fresh materials from which everything we perceive is derived.^[17] He proposed the theory of the apeiron in direct response to the earlier theory of his teacher, Thales, who had claimed that the primary substance was water. The notion of temporal infinity was familiar to the Greek mind from remote antiquity in the religious concept of immortality and Anaximander’s description was in terms appropriate to this conception. This arche is called “eternal and ageless”. (Hippolitus I,6,I;DK B2)^[18]

For Anaximander, the principle of things, the constituent of all substances, is nothing determined and not an element such as water in Thales’ view. Neither is it something halfway between air and water, or between air and fire, thicker than air and fire, or more subtle than water and earth.^[19] Anaximander argues that water cannot embrace all of the opposites found in nature — for example, water can only be wet, never dry — and therefore cannot be the one primary substance; nor could any of the other candidates. He postulated the apeiron as a substance that, although not directly perceptible to us, could explain the opposites he saw around him.

Anaximander explains how the four elements of ancient physics (air, earth, water and fire) are formed, and how Earth and terrestrial beings are formed through their interactions. Unlike other Pre-Socratics, he never defines this principle precisely, and it has generally been understood (e.g., by Aristotle and by Saint Augustine) as a sort of primal chaos. According to him, the Universe originates in the separation of opposites in the primordial matter. It embraces the opposites of hot and cold, wet and dry, and directs the movement of things; an entire host of shapes and differences then grow that are found in “all the worlds” (for he believed there were many).

Anaximander maintains that all dying things are returning to the element from which they came (apeiron). The one surviving fragment of Anaximander’s writing deals with this matter. Simplicius transmitted it as a quotation, which describes the balanced and mutual changes of the elements:^[20]

Whence things have their origin,
Thence also their destruction happens,
According to necessity;
For they give to each other justice and recompense
For their injustice
In conformity with the ordinance of Time.

Simplicius mentions that Anaximander said all these “in poetic terms”, meaning that he used the old mythical language. The goddess Justice (Dike) keeps the cosmic order. This concept of returning to the element of origin was often revisited afterwards, notably by Aristotle,^[21] and by the Greek tragedian Euripides: “what comes from earth must return to earth.”^[22] Friedrich Nietzsche, in his Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks, stated that Anaximander viewed “…all coming-to-be as though it were an illegitimate emancipation from eternal being, a wrong for which destruction is the only penance.”^[23]

[edit]Cosmology

Anaximander’s bold use of non-mythological explanatory hypotheses considerably distinguishes him from previous cosmology writers such as Hesiod. It confirms that pre-Socratic philosophers were making an early effort to demythify physical processes. His major contribution to history was writing the oldest prose document about the Universeand the origins of life; for this he is often called the “Father of Cosmology” and founder of astronomy. However, pseudo-Plutarch states that he still viewed celestial bodies as deities.^[24]

Anaximander was the first to conceive a mechanical model of the world. In his model, the Earth floats very still in the centre of the infinite, not supported by anything. It remains “in the same place because of its indifference”, a point of view that Aristotle considered ingenious, but false, in On the Heavens.^[25] Its curious shape is that of acylinder^[26] with a height one-third of its diameter. The flat top forms the inhabited world, which is surrounded by a circular oceanic mass.

Such a model allowed the concept that celestial bodies could pass under it. It goes further than Thales’ claim of a world floating on water, for which Thales faced the problem of explaining what would contain this ocean, while Anaximander solved it by introducing his concept of infinite (apeiron).

At the origin, after the separation of hot and cold, a ball of flame appeared that surrounded Earth like bark on a tree. This ball broke apart to form the rest of the Universe. It resembled a system of hollow concentric wheels, filled with fire, with the rims pierced by holes like those of a flute. Consequently, the Sun was the fire that one could see through a hole the same size as the Earth on the farthest wheel, and an eclipse corresponded with the occlusion of that hole. The diameter of the solar wheel was twenty-seven times that of the Earth (or twenty-eight, depending on the sources)^[27]and the lunar wheel, whose fire was less intense, eighteen (or nineteen) times. Its hole could change shape, thus explaining lunar phases. The starsand the planets, located closer,^[28] followed the same model.^[29]

Anaximander was the first astronomer to consider the Sun as a huge mass, and consequently, to realize how far from Earth it might be, and the first to present a system where the celestial bodies turned at different distances. Furthermore, according to Diogenes Laertius (II, 2), he built a celestial sphere. This invention undoubtedly made him the first to realize the obliquityof the Zodiac as the Roman philosopher Pliny the Elder reports in Natural History (II, 8). It is a little early to use the term ecliptic, but his knowledge and work on astronomy confirm that he must have observed the inclination of the celestial sphere in relation to the plane of the Earth to explain the seasons. The doxographer and theologian Aetius attributes to Pythagoras the exact measurement of the obliquity.

[edit]Multiple worlds

According to Simplicius, Anaximander already speculated on the plurality of worlds, similar to atomists Leucippus and Democritus, and later philosopher Epicurus. These thinkers supposed that worlds appeared and disappeared for a while, and that some were born when others perished. They claimed that this movement was eternal, “for without movement, there can be no generation, no destruction”.^[30]

In addition to Simplicius, Hippolytus^[31] reports Anaximander’s claim that from the infinite comes the principle of beings, which themselves come from the heavens and the worlds (several doxographers use the plural when this philosopher is referring to the worlds within,^[32] which are often infinite in quantity). Cicero writes that he attributes different gods to the countless worlds.^[33]

This theory places Anaximander close to the Atomists and the Epicureans who, more than a century later, also claimed that an infinity of worlds appeared and disappeared. In the timeline of the Greek history of thought, some thinkers conceptualized a single world (Plato, Aristotle, Anaxagoras and Archelaus), while others instead speculated on the existence of a series of worlds, continuous or non-continuous (Anaximenes, Heraclitus, Empedocles and Diogenes).

[edit]Meteorological phenomena

Anaximander attributed some phenomena, such as thunder and lightning, to the intervention of elements, rather than to divine causes.^[34] In his system, thunder results from the shock of clouds hitting each other; the loudness of the sound is proportionate with that of the shock. Thunder without lightning is the result of the wind being too weak to emit any flame, but strong enough to produce a sound. A flash of lightning without thunder is a jolt of the air that disperses and falls, allowing a less active fire to break free. Thunderbolts are the result of a thicker and more violent air flow.^[35]

He saw the sea as a remnant of the mass of humidity that once surrounded Earth.^[36] A part of that mass evaporated under the sun’s action, thus causing the winds and even the rotation of the celestial bodies, which he believed were attracted to places where water is more abundant.^[37] He explained rain as a product of the humidity pumped up from Earth by the sun.^[5] For him, the Earth was slowly drying up and water only remained in the deepest regions, which someday would go dry as well. According to Aristotle’s Meteorology (II, 3), Democritus also shared this opinion.

[edit]Origin of humankind

Anaximander speculated about the beginnings and origin of animal life. Taking into account the existence of fossils, he claimed that animals sprang out of the sea long ago. The first animals were born trapped in a spiny bark, but as they got older, the bark would dry up and break.^[38] As the early humidity evaporated, dry land emerged and, in time, humankind had to adapt. The 3rd century Roman writerCensorinus reports:

Anaximander of Miletus considered that from warmed up water and earth emerged either fish or entirely fishlike animals. Inside these animals, men took form and embryos were held prisoners until puberty; only then, after these animals burst open, could men and women come out, now able to feed themselves.^[39]

Anaximander put forward the idea that humans had to spend part of this transition inside the mouths of big fish to protect themselves from the Earth’s climate until they could come out in open air and lose their scales.^[40] He thought that, considering humans’ extended infancy, we could not have survived in the primeval world in the same manner we do presently.

Even though he had no theory of natural selection, some people consider him as evolution’s most ancient proponent. The theory of an aquatic descent of man was re-conceived centuries later as the aquatic ape hypothesis. These pre-Darwinian concepts may seem strange, considering modern knowledge and scientific methods, because they present complete explanations of the universe while using bold and hard-to-demonstrate hypotheses. However, they illustrate the beginning of a phenomenon sometimes called the “Greek miracle”: men try to explain the nature of the world, not with the aid of myths or religion, but with material principles. This is the very principle of scientific thought, which was later advanced further by improved research methods.

[edit]Other accomplishments

[edit]Cartography

Both Strabo and Agathemerus (later Greek geographers) claim that, according to the geographer Eratosthenes, Anaximander was the first to publish a map of the world. The map probably inspired the Greek historian Hecataeus of Miletus to draw a more accurate version. Strabo viewed both as the first geographers after Homer.

Maps were produced in ancient times, also notably in Egypt, Lydia, the Middle East, and Babylon. Only some small examples survived until today. The unique example of a world map comes from late Babylonian tablet BM 92687 later than 9th century BCE but is based probably on a much older map. These maps indicated directions, roads, towns, borders, and geological features. Anaximander’s innovation was to represent the entire inhabited land known to the ancient Greeks.

Such an accomplishment is more significant than it at first appears. Anaximander most likely drew this map for three reasons.^[42] First, it could be used to improve navigation and trade between Miletus’s colonies and other colonies around the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea. Second, Thales would probably have found it easier to convince the Ionian city-states to join in a federation in order to push the Median threat away if he possessed such a tool. Finally, the philosophical idea of a global representation of the world simply for the sake of knowledge was reason enough to design one.

Surely aware of the sea’s convexity, he may have designed his map on a slightly rounded metal surface. The centre or “navel” of the world (ὀμφαλός γῆς omphalós gẽs) could have been Delphi, but is more likely in Anaximander’s time to have been located near Miletus. TheAegean Sea was near the map’s centre and enclosed by three continents, themselves located in the middle of the ocean and isolated like islands by sea and rivers. Europe was bordered on the south by the Mediterranean Sea and was separated from Asia by the Black Sea, theLake Maeotis, and, further east, either by the Phasis River (now called the Rioni) or the Tanais. The Nile flowed south into the ocean, separating Libya (which was the name for the part of the then-known African continent) from Asia.

[edit]Gnomon

The Suda relates that Anaximander explained some basic notions of geometry. It also mentions his interest in the measurement of time and associates him with the introduction in Greece of the gnomon. In Lacedaemon, he participated in the construction, or at least in the adjustment, of sundials to indicate solstices and equinoxes.^[43] Indeed, a gnomon required adjustments from a place to another because of the difference in latitude.

In his time, the gnomon was simply a vertical pillar or rod mounted on a horizontal plane. The position of its shadow on the plane indicated the time of day. As it moves through its apparent course, the sun draws a curve with the tip of the projected shadow, which is shortest at noon, when pointing due south. The variation in the tip’s position at noon indicates the solar time and the seasons; the shadow is longest on the winter solstice and shortest on the summer solstice.

However, the invention of the gnomon itself cannot be attributed to Anaximander because its use, as well as the division of days into twelve parts, came from the Babylonians. It is they, according to Herodotus‘ Histories (II, 109), who gave the Greeks the art of time measurement. It is likely that he was not the first to determine the solstices, because no calculation is necessary. On the other hand, equinoxes do not correspond to the middle point between the positions during solstices, as the Babylonians thought. As the Suda seems to suggest, it is very likely that with his knowledge of geometry, he became the first Greek to accurately determine the equinoxes.

[edit]Prediction of an earthquake

In his philosophical work De Divinatione (I, 50, 112), Cicero states that Anaximander convinced the inhabitants of Lacedaemon to abandon their city and spend the night in the country with their weapons because an earthquake was near.^[44] The city collapsed when the top of theTaygetus split like the stern of a ship. Pliny the Elder also mentions this anecdote (II, 81), suggesting that it came from an “admirable inspiration”, as opposed to Cicero, who did not associate the prediction with divination.

[edit]Interpretations

Bertrand Russell in the History of Western Philosophy interprets Anaximander’s theories as an assertion of the necessity of an appropriate balance between earth, fire, and water, all of which may be independently seeking to aggrandize their proportions relative to the others. Anaximander seems to express his belief that a natural order ensures balance between these elements, that where there was fire, ashes (earth) now exist.^[45] His Greek peers echoed this sentiment with their belief in natural boundaries beyond which not even their gods could operate.

Friedrich Nietzsche, in Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks, claimed that Anaximander was a pessimist who asserted that the primal being of the world was a state of indefiniteness. In accordance with this, anything definite has to eventually pass back into indefiniteness. In other words, Anaximander viewed “…all coming-to-be as though it were an illegitimate emancipation from eternal being, a wrong for which destruction is the only penance”. (Ibid., § 4) The world of individual objects, in this way of thinking, has no worth and should perish.^[46]

Martin Heidegger lectured extensively on Anaximander, and delivered a lecture entitled “Anaximander’s Saying” which was subsequently included in Off the Beaten Track. The lecture examines the ontological difference and the oblivion of Being or Dasein in the context of the Anaximander fragment.^[47] Heidegger’s lecture is, in turn, an important influence on the French philosopher Jacques Derrida.^[48]