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Are the gods playing marbles on Mars?
New Scientist ^
| 6/11/13
| Victoria Jaggard
Posted on 06/11/2013 7:21:19 PM PDT by LibWhacker
(Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona)
A rolling stone gathers no moss – but on Mars it can nevertheless cloak itself in mystery. This NASA image shows the track of a boulder that rolled across the Nili Fossae region of Mars. For now it is anyone's guess what set the rock in motion.
This false-colour picture (click on it for higher resolution) was posted on 7 June to the Beautiful Mars Tumblr feed, a collection of high-resolution shots from the HiRISE camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. It shows dark, jagged tracks left in the soil by a lumpy boulder, probably a few metres wide, as it tumbled down a slope. A handful of smaller rocks (seen on the right) also made dotted lines as they rolled.
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...
TOPICS: Astronomy; Science
KEYWORDS: astronomy; boulders; california; catastrophism; deathvalley; marbles; mars; moving; mystery; mysterysolved; nasa; racetrackplaya; science
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To: SunkenCiv
To: LibWhacker
CO2 dry ice sliding down a hill ?
To: American Constitutionalist
To: LibWhacker
5
posted on
06/11/2013 7:30:02 PM PDT
by
JoeProBono
(Mille vocibus imago valet;-{)
To: American Constitutionalist
good try but the object didn't evaporate and is still at the bottom of the trail... if they take another picture and it's gone then it could very well be, if it's still there, prolly not
6
posted on
06/11/2013 7:32:26 PM PDT
by
Chode
(Stand UP and Be Counted, or line up and be numbered - *DTOM* -ww- NO Pity for the LAZY)
To: LibWhacker
Since it was perched on a hill, I'd say gravity had something to do with it.
Now... if it rolled across a flat surface, then I would question how that happened.
Happens here on Earth.
(Racetrack Playa in Death Valley)
7
posted on
06/11/2013 7:36:09 PM PDT
by
UCANSEE2
(The monsters are due on Maple Street)
To: UCANSEE2
Have they figured out how those move yet?
8
posted on
06/11/2013 7:38:10 PM PDT
by
Jack Hydrazine
(IÂ’m not a Republican, I'm a Conservative! Pubbies haven't been conservative since before T.R.)
To: Chode
This puzzle isn’t really hard. It was on an incline, and Mars has seismic activity, just as every planetary body does, including our moon.
9
posted on
06/11/2013 7:38:19 PM PDT
by
UCANSEE2
(The monsters are due on Maple Street)
To: UCANSEE2
those ALWAYS amazed me...
10
posted on
06/11/2013 7:42:50 PM PDT
by
Chode
(Stand UP and Be Counted, or line up and be numbered - *DTOM* -ww- NO Pity for the LAZY)
To: LibWhacker
It was the mars rat ....
11
posted on
06/11/2013 7:43:06 PM PDT
by
wonkowasright
(Wonko from outside the asylum)
To: Jack Hydrazine
The theory is that moisture in the air condenses at night, on the surface, and capillary action causes it to be sucked between the rock and the dry ground underneath, giving the rock a ‘lift’ off the ground suspended on a small pad of water. Then... the wind moves the almost resistance free rock across the ‘racetrack’.
12
posted on
06/11/2013 7:43:27 PM PDT
by
UCANSEE2
(The monsters are due on Maple Street)
To: Chode
Could it be simply a huge rock fallen down a hill ?
To: Chode
Will Smith dragging a alien in his parachute ?
To: LibWhacker
15
posted on
06/11/2013 7:46:38 PM PDT
by
UCANSEE2
(The monsters are due on Maple Street)
To: American Constitutionalist
bingo... 8^)
16
posted on
06/11/2013 7:49:11 PM PDT
by
Chode
(Stand UP and Be Counted, or line up and be numbered - *DTOM* -ww- NO Pity for the LAZY)
To: Jack Hydrazine
Have they figured out how those move yet? Yes.
17
posted on
06/11/2013 7:49:25 PM PDT
by
Tenacious 1
("The British are Coming (to confiscate weapons)" - Paul Revere (We know how that ended))
To: wonkowasright
Martian Golf Course.
18
posted on
06/11/2013 7:52:25 PM PDT
by
UCANSEE2
(The monsters are due on Maple Street)
To: JoeProBono
I love you for your pictures. You are so special, don’t stop those pictures.
19
posted on
06/11/2013 8:06:51 PM PDT
by
Marcella
(Prepping can save your life today. I am a Christian, not a Muslim.)
To: LibWhacker
20
posted on
06/11/2013 8:31:53 PM PDT
by
schm0e
("we are in the midst of a coup.")
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