Astro-image of the day: The Spiders on Mars

[mckitterick]

Turns out that Ziggy had it right (sort of). Check out these amazing Martian features:

Click the image to see the story.

Sorry, these aren't huge Martians; they're surface features created by carbon-dioxide ice turning to gas below the surface. Unlike water-ice, when warmed by Spring sunshine on the dust above, C02 ice goes straight to gas, forming these amazing patterns as it bursts through the soil. The official NASA designation for these is "cryptic features," but popular names include "lace, lizard-skin, fans, and spiders."

Best,
Chris

Comments

[fortyozspartan.livejournal.com]

Is that the same stuff Arthur C. Clark thought was plants?

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Oh, could be. I think you're talking about the Cydonians. Love it!

Chris

[fortyozspartan.livejournal.com]

I just went and looked up where I read it: Good 'ole Daily Galaxy

Turns out they're one and the same but I wasn't sure because the photos I looked at weren't topographical. They look a bit different from the side than "3rd person." I was trying to rotate it in my mind's eye to figure out if it was the same feature or not.



Pretty neat design at any rate.

"I'm quite serious when I say have a really good look at these new Mars images," Clarke said. "Something is actually moving and changing with the seasons that suggests, at least, vegetation."

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Right, Sir Arthur; couldn't be anything more likely, such as CO2 evaporation...

[fortyozspartan.livejournal.com]

It doesn't even look like vegetation to me in any of those pictures. Maybe it's because I'm geologically trained to rock your socks off.

[frankwu.livejournal.com]

Just to be clear - the lines are linear clouds of carbon dioxide in the air, rather than frozen carbon dioxide (dry ice) on/under the ground?

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

As I understand it, they're new structures in the ground created by the evaporation - so says the theory. Cool beans! Underground ice creating huge above-ground features.