CHICAGO — Is Chicago colder than Mars right now?
Perhaps in an effort to find solidarity, Chicagoans have been sharing tweets from accounts like @MarsWxReport which say Mars is currently warmer than much of the northern part of the country and Canada, including Chicago.
DNAinfo Chicago wanted to find out more, so we talked to Mark Hammergren, an astronomer at the Adler Planetarium.
Hammergren said it is true that Chicago is currently colder than Mars. The red planet was seeing a high of 17 degrees Fahrenheit as of Monday, which is the latest data available, he said.
That's compared to Thursday morning, when Chicago saw below-zero temperatures with a high of 13 degrees later in the day.
"It's funny when you get a high temperature in Chicago that's higher than the [one] on Mars," Hammergren said.
But the most recent low temperature recorded on Mars no Chicagoan has yet to experience. As of Monday, the planet was seeing a low of -97 degrees Fahrenheit, he said. (The Mars data, by the way, is collected using a robot called Curiosity Rover, which explores the planet's surface.)
Mars has very little atmosphere, Hammergren explained. When nighttime hits, "you don't have clouds to trap the heat." So once the heat escapes, it gets very cold at night.
Ultimately, the fact the Chicago is currently colder than Mars isn't especially unique, he said.
On especially balmy days, Mars can see temperatures over 32 degrees Fahrenheit in some spots, he said.
"Mars has weather," Hammergren said. "It's not as dramatic as what you see on Earth, but they do get temperatures that vary."
And there are places in our solar system that are far colder than Chicago, like Saturn's moon, Titan, for example, which sees temperatures of -270 degrees Fahrenheit.
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