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Strange crescent-shaped pit near Martian south pole
behindtheblack.com ^ | February 12, 2019 at 2:19 pm | Robert Zimmerman

Posted on 02/13/2019 9:06:21 AM PST by Red Badger

Cool image time! The south polar cap of Mars is a strange place. It is largely ice, with a seasonal cap of frozen carbon dioxide, or dry ice. Because the dry ice sublimates away during the summer months, the cap undergoes regular changes that reshape it, producing alien features that are not seen on Earth.

The image on the right is another example of these alien features. I found it in the February image release from the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. I have merely cropped the full image to focus at full resolution on its primary feature, a region of stippled-like surface surrounding an area of black striping that in turn surrounds a crescent-shaped pit outlined by whiter material.

Why is there a pit here? Why is it crescent-shaped? Why is it surrounded by that whiter material? I could guess and say that the pit is a vent from which water vapor from the lower cap of water sprays out onto the upper cap of frozen carbon dioxide, staining it with white ice, but I am most likely wrong.

Moreover, what causes the black striping, as well as the stippled material surrounding it? The black stripes are probably related to a similar process that forms the spider formations found in the polar regions, except that these are not spiders. Why the parallel straight lines?

A lot of questions with no answers. While many features on Mars are strange, the features near the poles are probably stranger still, as they form in a place with chemistry, temperatures, gravity, and materials in a combination and scale that we on Earth have no experience with.


TOPICS: Arts/Photography; Astronomy; Science
KEYWORDS: mars
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1 posted on 02/13/2019 9:06:21 AM PST by Red Badger
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To: Red Badger

It’s a crater.


2 posted on 02/13/2019 9:10:51 AM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: Red Badger

Obama’s NASA-Muslim outreach finally bears fruit.


3 posted on 02/13/2019 9:12:26 AM PST by Joe 6-pack (Qui me amat, amat et canem meum.)
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To: Red Badger

4 posted on 02/13/2019 9:12:35 AM PST by DannyTN
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To: Red Badger

Oh, so it ISN’T aliens, its MOSLEMS!!!!


5 posted on 02/13/2019 9:18:27 AM PST by Ancesthntr ("The right to buy weapons is the right to be free." A. E. van Vogt, The Weapons Shops of Isher)
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To: Joe 6-pack

Obama’s NASA-Muslim outreach finally bears fruit.

Doe’s this mean Muslim’s are finally going to make a contribution to humanity?


6 posted on 02/13/2019 9:21:41 AM PST by heshtesh (Brtan)
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To: DannyTN

Hillary at lunch time?


7 posted on 02/13/2019 9:24:45 AM PST by dp0622 (The Left should know if.. Trump is kicked out of office, it is WAR!)
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To: dp0622

Maybe If there was an upside down bottle.

Or arkancide victims littering the landscape.


8 posted on 02/13/2019 9:27:25 AM PST by DannyTN
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To: SunkenCiv

*ping*


9 posted on 02/13/2019 9:32:50 AM PST by fieldmarshaldj ("It's Slappin' Time !")
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To: Red Badger

A Martian version of a “crop circle” - a strange creation in the landscape made by alieans.


10 posted on 02/13/2019 9:33:57 AM PST by Wuli
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To: Red Badger

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barchan

Similair shapes occur on earth...


11 posted on 02/13/2019 9:40:02 AM PST by PilotDave (No, really, you just can't make this stuff up!!)
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To: Red Badger

Old Martian cylinder filling in over time...

12 posted on 02/13/2019 9:43:42 AM PST by Jonah Hex
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To: Red Badger

Oh, NOOOOO!!! Mars is in “blackface”!!!!


13 posted on 02/13/2019 9:45:18 AM PST by NorthMountain (... the right of the peopIe to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: Red Badger

Space Muslims!


14 posted on 02/13/2019 9:46:29 AM PST by Fresh Wind (Trump: "America will never be a socialist country!")
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To: Red Badger

15 posted on 02/13/2019 9:55:35 AM PST by GreenLanternCorps (Hi! I'm the Dread Pirate Roberts! (TM) Ask about franchise opportunities in your area.arare)
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To: Red Badger

Uranus?


16 posted on 02/13/2019 10:02:49 AM PST by fhayek
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To: DannyTN

Shai Huluud!!!!


17 posted on 02/13/2019 10:07:45 AM PST by rjsimmon (The Tree of Liberty Thirsts)
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To: Red Badger

Looks like the remains of an icy object that crashed at low velocity and scattered.


18 posted on 02/13/2019 10:09:41 AM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi - Monthly Donors Rock!!!)
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To: Red Badger

Looks like Clutch Cargo’s mouth.


19 posted on 02/13/2019 10:13:57 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn)
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To: GreenLanternCorps

Heck yeah!


20 posted on 02/13/2019 10:16:21 AM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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