Posted on 10/04/2012 3:41:05 PM PDT by grundle
Someone alert Ziggy Stardust, there appear to be spiders on Mars.
Strange black objects seen from 200 miles above the surface of Mars are generating interest and speculation that the unidentified objects could be anything from geysers to sunbathing colonies of microorganisms.
NPR presents several photos of the objects, including one taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on Jan. 27, 2010, that appears to show "little black flecks dotting the ridges, mostly on the sunny side, like sunbathing spiders sitting in rows."
The objects were first spotted in 1998. Interestingly, they appear when the surface of Mars begins to warm, showing up in the same location most of the time. And then when the Martian winter approaches, they disappear with the same precise regularity. The images have been brought into greater detail by Michael Benson in his book "Planetfall: New Solar System Visions."
Most scientists, including teams from the U.S. Geological Survey, Hungary and the European Space Agency, have their own theories, but the leading explanation is that the objects are geysers of CO2 exploding from underneath the planet's surface.
"If you were there, you'd be standing on a slab of carbon dioxide ice," Phil Christensen of Arizona State University told NPR. "All around you, roaring jets of carbon dioxide gas are throwing sand and dust a couple hundred feet into the air. The ground below would be rumbling. You'd feel it in your space boots."
And while the geyser theory is the most popular explanation, it has yet to be verified.
In the meantime, there are some interesting alternative theories, including one from a group of Hungarian scientists, who have speculated that the objects are actually colonies of photosynthetic Martian microorganisms that emerge each year to sunbathe in the warm weather.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
It is spotted; you can spot it in the photo.
Looks like someone in a burqa.
I suppose it is perspective, but those are odd looking for dunes. Sandblasted rock isn’t really just right either when you consider the scale from 200 miles up. I’d love to see some close ups. The black areas don’t really look like shadow from CO2 geysers.
More spice worms, of course! :-D
I don’t have a stillsuit, but considering the lack of rain around these parts that might be a useful thing to have.
FWIW: They found one in 2004 - Mars Opportunity Spirit found what looked like a Crinoid (1M1312). The genius NASA team headed by Steven Squyres then used the grinder to grind off the offending formation to see further into the rock surface on Stone Mountain - they also found what looked like Blastoids.
David Bowie was always right: Let's Dance!
Someone has to go there and look.
And if you look on the left side of that pic, in the 3rd “stitch” from the left edge of the panorama, you can see a Yeti peeping its head up from a ridge. Amazing the looks of some of these rocks. Pretty desolate place, but very cool to look at it close-up.
Just reading the other day that there have been some unexpectedly high temperatures recorded on Mars lately. (As much as 43 degrees F)
http://www.space.com/17828-mars-weather-curiosity-rover-discovery.html
Thanks. Dunes blown by the wind seems quite plausible.
Thanks for the explanation and picture!
The Shadows (Babylon 5)
You are both absolutely welcome.
I guess some are from an electron microscope, some from an optical microscope, some from satellite cameras orbiting earth, and one from the New Mexico desert.
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