Moons of Mars satellites, Earth had one and Jupiter had four (known at the time), that Mars by analogy must have two. Furthermore, as they had not yet been discovered, it was reasoned that they must be small and close to Mars. This would lead Swift to making a roughly accurate estimate of their orbital distances and revolution periods. In addition Swift could have been helped in his calculations by his friend, the mathematician John Arbuthnot. Voltaire's 1752 short story "Micromégas", about an alien visitor to Earth, also refers to two moons of Mars. Voltaire was presumably influenced by Swift. In recognition of
Climate of Mars have once had a much thicker and warmer atmosphere, and oceans and/or lakes may have been present. It has, however, proven extremely difficult to construct convincing global climate models for Mars which produce temperatures above 0 °C at any point in its history, although this may simply reflect problems in accurately calibrating such models. Evidence of a geologically recent, extreme ice age on Mars was published in 2016. Just 370,000 years ago, the planet would have appeared more white than red. Mars' temperature and circulation vary every Martian year (as expected for any planet with an atmosphere). Mars lacks oceans,