Climate of Mars cold while those in the North are short and warm. It is now thought that ice accumulated when Mars' orbital tilt was very different from what it is now. (The axis the planet spins on has considerable "wobble," meaning its angle changes over time.) A few million years ago, the tilt of the axis of Mars was 45 degrees instead of its present 25 degrees. Its tilt, also called obliquity, varies greatly because its two tiny moons cannot stabilize it like our moon. Many features on Mars, especially in the Ismenius Lacus quadrangle, are thought to contain large amounts of
Astrobiology restricted to the surfaces of planets. The three most likely candidates for life in the Solar System are the planet Mars, the Jovian moon Europa, and Saturn's moons Titan, and Enceladus. Mars, Enceladus and Europa are considered likely candidates in the search for life primarily because they may have underground liquid water, a molecule essential for life as we know it for its use as a solvent in cells. Water on Mars is found frozen in its polar ice caps, and newly carved gullies recently observed on Mars suggest that liquid water may exist, at least transiently, on the planet's