Albedo planet would drop to about 0 °C. In contrast, if the entire Earth was covered by water — a so-called aquaplanet — the average temperature on the planet would rise to almost 27 °C. For land surfaces, it has been shown that the albedo at a particular solar zenith angle "θ" can be approximated by the proportionate sum of two terms: the directional-hemispherical reflectance at that solar zenith angle, formula_1, and the bi-hemispherical reflectance, formula_2, with formula_3 being the proportion of direct radiation from a given solar angle, and formula_4 being the proportion of diffuse illumination. Hence, the actual albedo
Classical albedo features on Mars used to describe geographical features on the planet. Early telescopic astronomers, observing Mars from a great distance through primitive instruments (though they were advanced for their day), were limited to studying albedo contrasts on the surface of the planet. These lighter and darker patches rarely correspond to topographic features and in many cases obscure them. The origins of the albedo contrasts were a mystery. The lighter patches at the poles were correctly believed to be a frozen substance, either water or carbon dioxide, but the nature of the dark patches seen against the general reddish tint of Mars was uncertain