Why was the question of ice on Mars a mystery?

Posted by | August 28, 2003 | science | No Comments

New Scientist has some very nice Hubble pics of Mars.

We’ve seen pictures of Mars in similar detail before, however. In fact we’ve had photos of Mars from three feet away because NASA landed cameras on the surface.

Not that long ago, I seem to remember it being a shock for scientists to discover ice on Mars. Call me old-fashioned, but wouldn’t the things which look just like large polar ice caps (which are in fact large polar ice caps and not cotton wool or marsh mallow) have been clearly visible from a telescope a century ago?

Clearly I am missing something.