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There Is Definitely Methane on Mars, Scientists Say. But Is It a Sign of Life?
space,com ^ | 04/01/2019 | Mike Wall

Posted on 04/01/2019 2:00:52 PM PDT by BenLurkin

Curiosity rover mission recently determined that background levels of methane in Mars' atmosphere cycle seasonally, peaking in the northern summer. The six-wheeled robot has also detected two surges to date of the gas inside the Red Planet's 96-mile-wide (154 kilometers) Gale Crater — once in June 2013, and then again in late 2013 through early 2014.

These finds have intrigued astrobiologists, because methane is a possible biosignature. Though the gas can be produced by a variety of geological processes, the vast majority of methane in Earth's air is pumped out by microbes and other living creatures.

Some answers may soon be on the horizon, because that June 2013 detection has just been firmed up. Europe's Mars Express orbiter noted the spike as well from that spacecraft's perch high above the Red Planet, a new study reports.

"While previous observations, including that of Curiosity, have been debated, this first independent confirmation of a methane spike increases confidence in the detections," said study lead author Marco Giuranna, of the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica in Rome.

And that's not all. Giuranna and his team also traced the likely source of the June 2013 plume to a geologically complex region about 310 miles (500 kilometers) east of Gale Crater.

The paper doesn't address the ultimate origin of the methane — whether it was churned out by Martian microbes or reactions involving hot water and certain types of rock. And scientists don't know if the detected methane was produced recently or long ago; it could have been trapped under the ice for eons, after all.

Mars Express will eye the potential source region in detail in the future, Giuranna said. And other spacecraft, such as the methane-sniffing Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) — part of the European-Russian ExoMars program — may do so as well.

(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...


TOPICS: Science
KEYWORDS: 201306; deeplife; exobiology; galecrater; gilbertlewin; mars; methane; panspermia; thomasgold; xplanets
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To: Sacajaweau

Doesn’t there have to be decomposition by something living thing (even bacteria) to produce methane, even the methane in volcanoes.

Don’t know. Just asking.


21 posted on 04/01/2019 2:20:51 PM PDT by dp0622 (The Left should know if.. Trump is kicked out of office, it is WAR)
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To: BenLurkin

But Is It a Sign of Life?.....

No, it’s a sign of carbon and hydrogen................


22 posted on 04/01/2019 2:22:17 PM PDT by Red Badger (We are headed for a Civil War. It won't be nice like the last one....................)
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To: dp0622

There’s methane on all the gas giants and most of their moons.

All it is a sign of is there is carbon and hydrogen................


23 posted on 04/01/2019 2:23:44 PM PDT by Red Badger (We are headed for a Civil War. It won't be nice like the last one....................)
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To: ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton
The fact that so much hydrocarbons are found in the solar system brings the whole peak oil theory into question.

Exactly my thoughts. Abiotic genesis....

24 posted on 04/01/2019 2:24:35 PM PDT by AnalogReigns
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To: BenLurkin

There is a lot of methane on earth caused naturally. Is there a problem now that we have not been told about?


25 posted on 04/01/2019 2:24:48 PM PDT by Rapscallion (Shun them until they say they are sorry.)
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To: BenLurkin; KevinDavis; annie laurie; Knitting A Conundrum; Viking2002; Ernest_at_the_Beach; ...
Thanks BenLurkin. And Mars doesn't even have a Taco Bell.
 
X-Planets
· join · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post new topic · subscribe ·
Google news searches: exoplanet · exosolar · extrasolar ·

26 posted on 04/01/2019 2:25:23 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: Red Badger

That’s it?

Thanks :)

Couldn’t find a good answer on google.

Why is it so hard to get a straight answer there sometimes!!!


27 posted on 04/01/2019 2:27:40 PM PDT by dp0622 (The Left should know if.. Trump is kicked out of office, it is WAR)
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To: BenLurkin

As soon as I saw the headline about methane on Mars I knew this would be great.


28 posted on 04/01/2019 2:28:05 PM PDT by certrtwngnut (4- Do something,,,,even if it's wrong.)
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To: BenLurkin

Carbon and hydrogen are common elements in the universe. Methane is the simplest combination of those elements.

Whether you believe that life was generated spontaneously or by divine guidance, you would need to start with compounds containing carbon and hydrogen, along with other elements. Methane would be one of the most logical building blocks, or at least an intermediate, to form more complex hydrocarbons.

So, while it is true that living things generate methane, it is also true that methane occurs many places in the universe, and must have occurred on earth before there was any life. So how in the world can anyone assume that finding methane indicates that life must have been present?

These kinds of articles are just nuts.


29 posted on 04/01/2019 2:28:10 PM PDT by Rocky
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To: BitWielder1

You are right: Is there gas coming form Uranus?


30 posted on 04/01/2019 2:30:11 PM PDT by antidemoncrat
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To: BenLurkin

31 posted on 04/01/2019 2:40:16 PM PDT by seawolf101 (Member LES DEPLORABLES)
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To: BenLurkin
I'm not sure why they don't announce that there's plant life on Mars:
 

They could also confirm humanoid life on Mars, it would seem:

32 posted on 04/01/2019 2:41:03 PM PDT by rx (Truth Will Out!)
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To: JimRed
There are outer planet moons with lakes of cold liquid methane, and the universe seems to be awash in hydrocarbons. On the left below is such a lake on Titan. Right is size comparison with Lake Superior. Living things on this planet are made up of, not the original sources of, organic compounds. Why people continue to believe that fossil fuels are made of "fossils" is a puzzle. Dr. Thomas Gold nailed it years ago.


33 posted on 04/01/2019 2:41:22 PM PDT by katana
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To: dp0622

There’s lots of methane on Uranus......................

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_Uranus


34 posted on 04/01/2019 2:43:03 PM PDT by Red Badger (We are headed for a Civil War. It won't be nice like the last one....................)
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To: JimRed

Yes absolutely. There is methane in lots of places in our solar system that presumably has a non-biologic origin, such as Jupiter, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, Titan... The “scientific consensus” seems to be that the vast majority of the Earth’s methane is has a biological source and only a tiny minority of it is the result of geologic processes.


35 posted on 04/01/2019 2:43:31 PM PDT by Stingray51
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To: certrtwngnut

Everybody knows there’s methane on Uranus................


36 posted on 04/01/2019 2:44:12 PM PDT by Red Badger (We are headed for a Civil War. It won't be nice like the last one....................)
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To: BenLurkin

COWS? ON MARS?


37 posted on 04/01/2019 2:45:37 PM PDT by beethovenfan (Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin)
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To: Red Badger

Especially after tacos and beer!


38 posted on 04/01/2019 2:48:20 PM PDT by dp0622 (The Left should know if.. Trump is kicked out of office, it is WAR)
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To: dp0622

But is it a sign of life????????......................


39 posted on 04/01/2019 2:50:49 PM PDT by Red Badger (We are headed for a Civil War. It won't be nice like the last one....................)
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To: Red Badger

More like death :)


40 posted on 04/01/2019 2:52:00 PM PDT by dp0622 (The Left should know if.. Trump is kicked out of office, it is WAR)
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