Mars smaller than Earth? Just experienced ME (aka faulty memory)

So yesterday I was reading a thread here on ATS about Encelladus and along the way clicked on a link provided by one of the posters about the Saturn`s moon called Titan. It was all fine until saw this:

Titan stats
- Diameter: 3,200 miles (5,150 kilometers), about half the size of Earth and almost as large as Mars

I thought that the highlighted part was some kind of mistake and went to see on several other pages if I`m right in my assessment. To my disbelief I have found out that Mars is about half the size of the Earth and has 10% of the Earth`s mass. Wtf has just happened I thought to myself as the way I remember, Mars was always bigger than Earth, about 1.5 size of the Earth to be exact, until all of a sudden.

Now don`t get me wrong, I`m quite certain of it because I learned fairly quickly in my life about our solar system, I have books from the 80s and 90s and even a model of the solar system. Even remember learning in school about it. So I thought it must have been a mistake back then and books got it wrong as well as the model. I decided to sleep over and check the books and the model today. But all say the same thing, it`s about half the size of the Earth. This can`t be true I thought, even If I had mistaken the planet`s sizes for eachother, it still doesn`t add up because Earth is almost twice the size of Mars and not 1.5 size bigger as I thought Mars was in comparison to Earth.

Then I went to google and found out that I`m not the first who thought this was the case. Here is the link to reddit. The user actually remembers it the same way. There is more. I have found something very interesting...

Apparently the scientists have now proposed a new model that explains why Mars is so small compared to Earth and Venus as it was previously predicted that it should have been a similar size, if not bigger.

Southwest Research Institute scientists developed a new process in planetary formation modeling that explains the size and mass difference between the Earth and Mars. Mars is much smaller and has only 10 percent of the mass of the Earth. Conventional solar system formation models generate good analogs to Earth and Venus, but predict that Mars should be of similar-size, or even larger than Earth.

source

There is an alternative source, however, where a scientist is open to the possiblity that both of these models are wrong:

"In the Grand Tack model, the asteroid belt was purged at a very early stage, and the surviving members sample a much larger region of the solar nebula," Chambers writes. "These differences may help us distinguish between the models in future."

But there's also the possibility that both of these models are off-base, and that Mars' puniness is just a strange cosmic accident.

"Conventional planet-formation simulations generate respectable Mars analogs in a few percent of cases without requiring any special measures," Chambers writes. "This leaves the slim possibility that Mars represents a bizarre statistical outlier, and its small size contains no deeper truths about our solar system."

source

I must admit I never heard of this before because my memory tells me that there was no such anomaly regarding Mars due to the obvious reason.

So here we are, I have no evidence or, better said, all the evidence is against my memory. Not that I expected anything more from such occurence. I have explained why would this be the case in my previous thread. I guess I`m just going to have to suck it up and attribute it to my faulty memory, despite my gut telling me otherwise, and start learning about our solar system again...now that I have found my ol' dusty books

I do wonder though, does anyone else remember this the same way?

a reply to: Op3nM1nd3d
Even Edgar Rice Burroughs factored the smaller mass of Mars into his novels about Barsoom and John Carter 100 years ago.

a reply to: Op3nM1nd3d

Simply put and in no uncertain terms, your memory is faulty... Mars has always been smaller than Earth.

If Mars was 1.5 the size of Earth it would have an easier time holding on to a real atmosphere, and liquid water, in your memory is this the case? Was it inhabited?

a reply to: Op3nM1nd3d

Um, I always remember Mars being smaller than earth all the way back in grade school planet pics.

Yep sorry OP no Mandela affect here. Just a faulty brain memory. Probably saw a false image at one point and it stuck. Funny how # can do that.

originally posted by: UnBreakable
a reply to: Op3nM1nd3d

Um, I always remember Mars being smaller than earth all the way back in grade school planet pics.

The planets are not to scale in that pic.
Look how big Uranus is!

a reply to: Op3nM1nd3d

Mars was always bigger than Earth, about 1.5 size of the Earth to be exact, until all of a sudden.

This ME madness has to stop.

I've known Mars is smaller way back in elementary school.

So...if you were born after 1975, I can with outmost certainty claim...that it's your memory. Like all these silly "cases".

originally posted by: butcherguy

originally posted by: UnBreakable
a reply to: Op3nM1nd3d

Um, I always remember Mars being smaller than earth all the way back in grade school planet pics.

The planets are not to scale in that pic.
Look how big Uranus is!

Don't get personal. People always tell me "Look how big Uranus is".

originally posted by: UnBreakable

originally posted by: butcherguy

originally posted by: UnBreakable
a reply to: Op3nM1nd3d

Um, I always remember Mars being smaller than earth all the way back in grade school planet pics.

The planets are not to scale in that pic.
Look how big Uranus is!

Don't get personal. People always tell me "Look how big Uranus is".

My cousin had the same problem. His was as big as Jupiter.
End result: He only got a 'Participant' ribbon at the science fair.

originally posted by: MarioOnTheFly
a reply to: Op3nM1nd3d

Mars was always bigger than Earth, about 1.5 size of the Earth to be exact, until all of a sudden.

This ME madness has to stop.

I've known Mars is smaller way back in elementary school.

So...if you were born after 1975, I can with outmost certainty claim...that it's your memory. Like all these silly "cases".

This ME madness will never end on here. People would rather blame some ridiculous theory than their own human fallibility of a failed mental acuity.

originally posted by: butcherguy

originally posted by: UnBreakable
a reply to: Op3nM1nd3d

Um, I always remember Mars being smaller than earth all the way back in grade school planet pics.

The planets are not to scale in that pic.
Look how big Uranus is!

Reminds me of a joke:

How is the Star ship Enterprise and toilet paper alike?

They both circle Uranus and wipe out Klingons.

a reply to: Op3nM1nd3d

Mars was smaller then earth for the last fifty years I can remember.

I gotta agree with everyone else here, ME is faulty memory.

a reply to: Op3nM1nd3d

I have always thought of Mars as smaller than Earth, with Venus being roughly the same size and Mercury being the smallest of the inner planets.

In fact, if Mars were suddenly reported to be BIGGER than the Earth then I would instantly believe in this whole Mandela Effect thing!

a reply to: Op3nM1nd3d

Nope. You're wrong. It was never bigger than Earth.

And ME is not real. It's an excuse for people who can't remember things.

Thanks guys for your replies. As said, I`m just going to have to suck it up and re-learn about our solar system

Don`t know why I have this faulty memory though because it`s not vague, it`s pretty detailed. It has or had an atmosphere but not like on Earth. No water liquid water though and no inhabitants that we would know of.

a reply to: Op3nM1nd3d
Don't forget Uranus!

a reply to: butcherguy

Don`t worry, Uranus is still the same....according to my memory

a reply to: Op3nM1nd3d


I don't get it, you use your ignorance to leverage a thread?


Such is the state of decent threads on ATS these days.


I patiently watched Rense personally take his site to non-relevancy a couple of years ago. I hope that the owners of ATS find some remedy for the slide of ATS.

a reply to: Op3nM1nd3d

Nope I remember Mars being smaller.
Just getting older dude.