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To: Paleo Pete

I do notice it in some of the dark craters, but of course those would also be a lower elevation and shielded from the wind at least a bit.

Mars does have an atmosphere, it is thinner than Earths, but it definitely has one, and weather. There are giant dust storms there for months at a time.


33 posted on 02/12/2019 8:25:23 AM PST by Boogieman
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To: Boogieman

Right you are, it’s been a while and I forgot Mars does have a thin atmosphere, and I’ve seen the results of a dust storm through a telescope. (Can’t have a dust storm without an atmosphere) The huge dust storms obscure almost all of the detail you can see under normal viewing conditions. When Mars was at closest approach several years ago it was one of the first things I looked at when I first got my 6 inch Orion scope. Saturn too that year, both close as they get. During a dust storm, Mars was just an orange blob. (No Trump jokes please...lol)

I do have to argue the comment that the craters would be shielded from wind, it would still wrap around, so to speak, similar to what causes lift in an airplane wing, and get some wind, but less of it. The dunes in craters attest to that.

The craters without dunes would be newer ones, haven’t had time to develop dunes yet.

Then again I’m no professional, mostly guessing.

It is interesting to note that most of these are smaller craters, no more than 500 meters across or so, when we see some on the moon that are miles across. I realize this is a small area, but even with a good scope no huge craters are visible that I remember. I can only guess, but was the atmosphere thick enough at some point to burn up meteors same as here on Earth? The same objects floating around in space were there but none or few hit Mars? Especially when the asteroid belt is between Mars and Jupiter so Mars is the closer target? Interesting...


34 posted on 02/13/2019 6:35:25 AM PST by Paleo Pete (Stercus Accidit)
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