Wind and water have shaped Schiaparelli on Mars

European Space Agency ^ | December 10, 2010 | Unknown

[decimon]

The small crater embedded in the northwestern rim of the Schiaparelli impact basin features prominently in this new image from ESA’s Mars Express. All around is evidence for past water and the great martian winds that periodically blow.

Schiaparelli is a large impact basin about 460 km in diameter located in the eastern Terra Meridiani region of the equator of Mars. The centre of the basin lies at about 3°S/17°E and is named after the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli (1835–1910). Although he also studied Mercury and Venus, he is best known for his observations of the Red Planet.

During the ‘Great Opposition’ of 1877, when Mars passed close to Earth, Schiaparelli mapped the planet, perceiving a number of straight dark lines across the red surface. He assumed that these were natural water-filled channels and used the equivalent Italian word, ‘canali’.

However, other astronomers thought he meant canals, meaning artificial irrigation and transportation routes, which led to a few astronomers, and a large number of the general public, believing that they had been created by intelligent Martians.

[decimon]

A few nice pics at the link.

This one looks like it was done by Elsa Schiaparelli:

[cripplecreek]

Aside from the craters its nearly indistinguishable from the deserts here on earth.

[decimon]

Aside from the craters its nearly indistinguishable from the deserts here on earth.

Apparently formed by some of the same processes.

[SunkenCiv]

• Red planet's hue due to meteors, not water -- "There is something of a paradox about Mars," agrees Joshua Bandfield of Arizona State University in Tempe. His team recently showed that the planet has no large deposits of carbonates, which should have formed if giant pools of water had persisted on the surface. Bandfield suggests that liquid water must have occasionally burst out of the ground, carving channels and gullies, but that it quickly froze again in the frigid Martian climate.
• Red Planet's Ancient Equator Located

Thanks decimon.

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