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Changes in Mars orbit characteristics: Mars has an elliptical orbit around the sun, while Earth's orbit is almost circular. This difference has a major implication in season's duration. In the northern hemisphere, winters are short and mild and summers relativement long and cold, while in the southern hemisphere, winters are long and cold and summers are short and warm . The eccentricity (e) of the orbit can vary through time. Mars also experiences strong variation in obliquity (r). The inclination of the planet axis with respect to the ecliptic plane can vary dramatically over 30 degrees. Some models show that this obliquity could vary in fact chaotically up to 60 degrees, generating important climatic changes. The precession of the equinoxes (P), which is a slow conical motion of the planet's axis about the vertical plane of the ecliptic, is caused both by the attractive force (pull) of the sun and Jupiter. It results in a gradual westward motion of the equinoxes over a period of 175,000 years.
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