Astronomy Picture of the Day 12-24-02

NASA ^ | 12-24-02 | Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell

[petuniasevan]

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2002 December 24

Spring Dust Storms at the North Pole of Mars
Credit: MSSS, JPL, NASA

Explanation: Spring reached the north pole of Mars in May, and brought with it the usual dust storms. As the north polar cap begins to thaw, a temperature difference occurs between the cold frost region and recently thawed surface, resulting in swirling winds between the adjacent regions. In the above image mosaic from the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft currently orbiting Mars, the white material is frozen carbon dioxide that covers much of the extreme north. The choppy clouds of at least three dust storms can be identified.

[petuniasevan]

If your winter weather seems a bit cold, just imagine what spring at Mars' north pole is like!
Daytime temps (GROUND, not air!) are on the order of -65 degrees. Nights are colder than -130 degrees.

[petuniasevan]

[WSGilcrest]

brrrrrrrr! bump :)

[petuniasevan]

I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

[petuniasevan]

LOL!

Hey - my dad managed a Sambo's Restaurant in Vallejo back twenty years ago. We lived in Chico - megacommute for him!

[BradyLS]

Well, I must say, I sure like all the planetary shots I've been seeing on APOD lately! Great job as always, petuniasevan!

[WSGilcrest]

Well I'll be darned. Small world. :)

[xJones]

Do we really want to try and colonize this place? :)

Thanks for the ping, fascinating as always.

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

Great pic!

[NewCenturions]

Looks to be a White Christmas on Mars!

[RightWhale]

Do we really want to try and colonize this place?

It would be better as a scientific outpost, like Antarctica. Life would be harsh for a long time; you wouldn't be spending much time hiking in the Martian forests. Living on Mars would be something like going camping but staying in the Winnebago.

[sit-rep]

That is cold, but it seems it should be colder. Does it not? What is the temp around Mars' equator...do you know??

IMWTK

SR

[sistergoldenhair]

Nice one.
Thanks for the work you do on APOD.

[petuniasevan]

Those are Celsius degrees, not Fahrenheit (sorry)

-40 is -40, but -120 celsius is -184 Fahrenheit.

The Martian equatorial regions' ground temps can reach the 60s Fahrenheit.

The polar regions in their winters can get as cold (ground temp) as -220 F.

The mean surface temperature on Mars (and it's mean all right!) is around -80 F.

The thin atmosphere cannot hold much heat; it's always colder than the surface.

Here's a graphic from the Mars Pathfinder mission of 5 1/2 years ago:

Pathfinder's location is about 19.33 N, 33.55 W.

A "Sol" is a Martian day, about 24.65 Earth hours.

Kelvin is the Celsius scale measured from absolute zero. Just subtract 273 from any Kelvin temp for the Celsius equivalent. Then convert to Fahrenheit with the following formula: X times 9 divided by 5 plus 32.