Posted on 02/16/2015 5:29:57 PM PST by SunkenCiv
Plumes seen reaching high above the surface of Mars are causing a stir among scientists studying the atmosphere on the Red Planet.
On two separate occasions in March and April 2012, amateur astronomers reported definite plume-like features developing on the planet.
The plumes were seen rising to altitudes of over 250 km above the same region of Mars on both occasions. By comparison, similar features seen in the past have not exceeded 100 km.
"At about 250 km, the division between the atmosphere and outer space is very thin, so the reported plumes are extremely unexpected," says Agustin Sanchez-Lavega of the Universidad del PaÃs Vasco in Spain, lead author of the paper reporting the results in the journal Nature.
The features developed in less than 10 hours, covering an area of up to 1000 x 500 km, and remained visible for around 10 days, changing their structure from day to day.
None of the spacecraft orbiting Mars saw the features because of their viewing geometries and illumination conditions at the time.
However, checking archived Hubble Space Telescope images taken between 1995 and 1999 and of databases of amateur images spanning 2001 to 2014 revealed occasional clouds at the limb of Mars, albeit usually only up to 100 km in altitude.
But one set of Hubble images from 17 May 1997 revealed an abnormally high plume, similar to that spotted by the amateur astronomers in 2012.
(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...
Dune buggies?
[guy in foreground, thinking] “I wonder what I did with my gold uniform? Oh well, this red one I borrowed will be fine.”
Thanks, but it doesn’t say that more than one event happened in the same place, only that two different amateur astronomers saw the same plume about 10 days apart, and that on other occasions in the past, different plumes were seen, which could easily mean that surface impacts happen on Mars, which has very thin atmosphere (surface pressure on Mars is about the same as 40 miles altitude above Earth).
Found at last!!!
Mars has no active volcanoes, or rather, best data is no eruptions in over two million years, and probably much longer ago (50-100 mya). If it does turn out to be a volcano, it’ll be big news, and probably have an impact on the focus of the next orbiter and/or rover mission.
Yeah, we’re in for now. ;’)
Earth hasn’t been heating up; Pluto’s near perihelion, and is as warm as it ever gets (that’s the reason there was a bit of a rush to get the probe launched, what, ten years ago? It’s nearing Pluto now); anyone speculating that the Earth is heating up probably doesn’t attribute it to solar activity, unless of course they’re refuting the Global Warming Hoax. :’)
Red planet’s hue due to meteors, not water
New Scientist | September 4 2003 | Hazel Muir
Posted on 12/21/2006 12:27:00 AM PST by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1756678/posts
New Theory: Catastrophe Created Mars’ Moons
space.com | 29 Jul 03 | Leonard David
Posted on 07/29/2003 8:56:47 AM PDT by RightWhale
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/954539/posts
Red Planet’s Ancient Equator Located
Scientific American (online) | April 20, 2005 | Sarah Graham
Posted on 04/24/2005 8:18:25 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1390424/posts
When Dust Storms Engulf Mars
Thunderbolts Picture of the Day | Mar 24, 2005 | Mel Acheson
Posted on 03/28/2005 10:19:07 PM PST by Swordmaker
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1372800/posts
Fire And Ice: Mars Images Reveal Recent Volcanic And Glacial Activity (climate change)
ScienceDaily.com | 2005-03-24 | NA
Posted on 01/22/2006 1:37:59 PM PST by neverdem
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1562874/posts
So, where did the water on Mars come from?
The Toronto Star | 3/7/04 | Terence Dickinson
Posted on 03/07/2004 2:21:58 AM PST by LibWhacker
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1092484/posts
Solar System Ice: Source of Earth’s Water
Carnegie Institution | Thursday, July 12, 2012 | unattributed
Posted on 07/14/2012 6:12:51 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2906461/posts
An Argument for the Cometary Origin of the Biosphere
American Scientist | September-October 2001 | Armand H. Delsemme
Posted on 09/06/2004 8:16:38 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1208497/posts
Small Comets and Our Origins
University of Iowa | circa 1999 | Louis A. Frank
Posted on 10/19/2004 11:13:25 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/1250694/posts
Mars Express Finds Supersaturated Water Vapor in Mars’ Atmosphere
Daily Tech | October 10, 2011 | Tiffany Kaiser
Posted on 10/10/2011 4:38:18 PM PDT by decimon
http://freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2790830/posts
:’D
During the opposition of 1894 a great light was seen on the illuminated part of the disk, first at the Lick Observatory, then by Perrotin of Nice, and then by other observers. English readers heard of it first in the issue of Nature dated August 2. I am inclined to think that this blaze may have been the casting of the huge gun, in the vast pit sunk into their planet, from which their shots were fired at us. Peculiar markings, as yet unexplained, were seen near the site of that outbreak during the next two oppositions.
The two images from 2012 (March and April) are the same event, so no surprise they’d be in the same place.
The third pic from 1997 has this caption:
“A curious plume-like feature was observed on Mars on 17 May 1997 by the Hubble Space Telescope. It is similar to the features detected by amateur astronomers in 2012, although appeared in a different location.”
Ah, I see what you are saying. They were talking about the May 1997 event right above that photo, but it is actually just another one of the 2012 event. My mistake.
OMG! I thought I was the only one who thinks of the Crawling Eye.
Million Dollar movie played it everyday for a week, maybe two, back when I was a kid.
Remember one of the stars? Forest Tucker. (I’m sure he hopes you forget).
Yes, it must be the Crawling Eye.
I bought a bunch of good old 1950s si fi movies last week. Been having a great time watching them!
THE ANGRY RED PLANET is next!
If you get Me tv, Svengooli shows 1950s horror flicks, one every Sat night. They’re pretty interesting.
Love old 50’s Sci-fi.
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