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Astronomy Picture of the Day
NASA ^ | 6/21/08 | NASA

Posted on 06/21/2008 5:20:41 AM PDT by sig226


Vanishing Act
Phoenix Mission Team, NASA, JPL-Caltech, U. Arizona, Texas A&M University

Explanation: Compare these two close-up pictures taken on sol 20 (left) and sol 24 of a trench dug in the Martian surface by NASA's Phoenix Lander. Those sols of the Phoenix Mission (a sol is a Martian day), correspond to June 15 and 18 on planet Earth. Light-colored, dice-sized chunks, visible in the lower left shadow region of the trench in the sol 20 image have vanished by sol 24 -- a strong indication that the chunks were ice uncovered by digging the shallow trench. The vanishing act likely demonstrates the sublimation of ice in the trench, a process similar to evaporation, in which the ice went directly from solid to gas after it was exposed to sunlight and the thin, dry Martian atmosphere.


TOPICS: Astronomy Picture of the Day
KEYWORDS: apod

1 posted on 06/21/2008 5:20:41 AM PDT by sig226
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To: fnord; Number57; KevinDavis; rdb3; MNJohnnie; thoughtomator; RightWhale; proudofthesouth; ...

2 posted on 06/21/2008 5:21:19 AM PDT by sig226 (Real power is not the ability to destroy an enemy. It is the willingness to do it.)
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To: sig226

Maybe martians stole these chunks. HA!


3 posted on 06/21/2008 5:31:07 AM PDT by jnwest
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To: sig226

Couldn’t the ice have been frozen carbon dioxide or some other compound as well as water?


4 posted on 06/21/2008 5:35:28 AM PDT by Savage Beast (Vote Republican = Vote NO to the Radical Left!)
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To: sig226

It looks like calcium sulphate to me


5 posted on 06/21/2008 5:47:09 AM PDT by bert (K.E. N.P. +12 . The Bitcons will elect a Democrat by default)
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To: Savage Beast

Might be a simple reason how the material would not be CO2 but would be H2O. NASA should explain this since so many have asked how it is necessarily water ice and not CO2 ice.


6 posted on 06/21/2008 8:46:28 AM PDT by RightWhale (I will veto each and every beer)
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To: sig226

I saw this pic again this morn...i discredit the ice concept. IMHO


7 posted on 06/21/2008 10:41:29 AM PDT by SouthDixie (We are but angels with one wing, it takes two to fly.)
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To: sig226

Pretty cool if you look at it as a Stereophonic 3D picture!Stare at the picture, cross your eyes until you get 3 images. Look at the center and you can see the picture as 3D and the light object floating that represent the ice now gone.


8 posted on 06/21/2008 3:06:21 PM PDT by Bommer (A Third Party can win when Republicans and Democraps stand for the same thing!)
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To: Savage Beast
Carbon Dioxide is gas above about -105 F. It gets about -15F during the day there. Frozen CO2 would have been evaporated faster.
9 posted on 06/23/2008 5:49:16 PM PDT by Diggity
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To: Diggity

That’s -105 in the pressure of our atmosphere. Air pressure much lower there so CO2 probably evporates around -140 just guessing.


10 posted on 06/23/2008 5:55:48 PM PDT by Diggity
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To: Diggity
Thanks for the straight info! I didn't know that Mars got that hot, Diggity.
11 posted on 06/24/2008 6:42:18 AM PDT by Savage Beast (Vote Republican = Vote NO to the Radical Left!)
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To: Diggity
If it is CO2 ice, it's still a good thing. The O2 can be seperated for fuel source or even air supply. Part of it can be used for plant survival and the by-product there is also breathable air.

It really depends on the base composition. That is what a lot of us are waiting for is the results of the testing.

H2O ice would mean we could possibly control the environment to establish life from this planet onto that one. It would take some genetic manipulation to be able to survive in the harsh extremes, but the end product for the future is a stepping stone to the rest of the planets, and beyond.

I envy my grandchildrens grandchildren.

12 posted on 06/24/2008 7:16:50 AM PDT by Pistolshot (When you let what you are define who you are, you create divisiveness.)
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To: Pistolshot

I envy them too. I am 53 and grew up reading science fiction. I couldn’t get enough of it. I would give anything to live during a time when we could go to the stars.

I tell my 16 year old Stepdaughter that she will be able to visit the Moon and maybe Mars as a tourist before her life is over.

George Jetson isn’t that far away.

John


13 posted on 06/24/2008 5:45:19 PM PDT by Diggity
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