Mars weather . . . PARTLY CLOUDY . . .

NASA - JPL - photos ^ | 04-17-2004 | NASA/JPL - Phil V.

[Phil V.]

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This picture was taken by the front haz-cam on sol-082 by the Mars rover, Opportunity. The "clouds" are captured in all four pictures posted as of this date (04/17/2004).

Has anybody else ever seen reference to "partly cloudy" Martian sky? (It's a slow night.) . . . trolling for Hoaglandizers . . .

[Phil V.]

If you'd like to be on or off this MARS ping list please FRmail me.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

If you look closely at one of the Rover tracks, you can see a face.

[farmfriend]

Just saw a program on the Science channel dealing with Martian weather. Dust storms were their main focus.

[ETERNAL WARMING]

Saw it with my own eyes in December. Those clouds are frozen gas in the atmosphere. There was an article posted at the time..I think here. You might try doing a search..it was about maximum Mars viewing and I think it was in December. I can't remember the name of the article or the date. It might have been Wintersky.com or Science.com. Not certain.

[Phil V.]

Road kill?

[Phil V.]

Thanks.
Yes, I am aware of the fact that Mars has "clouds". I've just never seen any mention of them having been photographed FROM MARS!

[LibWhacker]

I'm no meteorologist, but I'm gonna go out on a limb here and predict rain isn't in the forecast. :-)

[Phil V.]

How 'bout snow?

[Phil V.]

BTW . . . bottom of the picture . . . Is that where the grass catcher attachment goes?

[djf]

Here's a nice high-res pre dawn picture taken by Pathfinder.

[farmfriend]

Sure looks like it. Maybe NASA used an adaptation of the robo grass cutter. You know better, cheaper, faster.

[Phil V.]

Ahhhh! . . . beautiful . . . thanks.

[LibWhacker]

'Ya know, now that you mention it . . . We have a rain cycle here on Earth, else we wouldn't have clouds. Mars must have something similar . . . Do you think it snows carbon dioxide there? Just a little sprinkling here, a little sprinkling there is all it'd take.

[Phil V.]

Do you think it snows carbon dioxide there?

There must be something such as you suggest that keeps the Mars polar regions replenished.

Isn't Mars entering its "winter" period?

[LibWhacker]

Isn't Mars entering its "winter" period?

Very possibly. But it'd be one pole at a time, as on Earth. I believe Mars' North Pole was experiencing winter last summer when Mars made it's close approach to Earth . . . The North polar ice cap showed up nicely in my little 8" telescope. So, that was around August (is that right?) and a Martian year is approximately two Earth years . . . Hmmm . . . lol . . . I'm spinning my wheels here . . . I'll try to look it up, lol!

[Dark Glasses and Corncob Pipe]

"If you look closely at one of the Rover tracks, you can see a face."

An autographed photo of Art Bell?

[LibWhacker]

Hey, check this out. Mars has 20 months. They've even named them. There is a nice table showing when winter, summer, etc. come to each of the hemispheres. 'Course, I still have no idea what the date is on Mars right now! :-)

[Phil V.]

'Course, I still have no idea what the date is on Mars right now! :-)

I believe that Quanza is right around the corner . . .

[LibWhacker]

LOL . . . Say it isn't so!