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- My examination of the Malin Space Science Systems Mars
images continues. They contain many interesting anomalies. For the life
of me, I cannot imagine why NASA/JPL/MSSS are so quiet about the evident
strangeness of much of it.
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- 1) http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/nonmaps/M0306104.gif
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- This file is a large one, so it will take a few minutes
to load. But for my purposes here, you really only need to look at the
first 20-40% of it. I am referring to the Dalmatian spot-like blotches
in this case. They occur in a crater bowl. Here we are seeing one of the
many, many crater floor "splotches" close up.
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- First of all, notice the neatly circumscribed boundary
of the "Dalmatian spots" (Of course they are not actually Dalmation
spots, I merely use the term because they closely resemble a Dalmatian
dog's spots.) Notice that the spots exactly coincide with a feature that
gives every appearance of being a dune field. Of course, a dune field is
composed of light soil or sand. In other words, it provides a rooting medium
that plants could take root in (as opposed to rock strata, for example,
which are much less hospitable for plant growth, ceteris paribus).
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- Second, notice that many of the blotches are fuzzy around
the edges, although other features in the photo appear rather sharp and
clear in outline. This indicates the blotches are ragged on the perimeter,
as a dense clump of low, scrubby vegetation might be, for instance.
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- Third, notice that none of the blotches cast a discernible
shadow, indicating that they are probably relatively low, ground hugging
features. This is the case even for the ones that are in direct sunlight.
I believe this argues against the possibility that the myriad dark blotches
are rock outcroppings sticking up through the sand. If this were the case,
surely at least a few of them would cast noticeable shadows? The fact that
that does not occur leads me to surmise that the dark blotches conform
to the contours of the sand dunes, and lie on top of them. Hence, I believe
the blotches are quite probably surface features, and not rocks protruding
through the sand from the subsurface.
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- Fourth, while the blotches are dispersed in both shady
and sunlit areas, there is a noticeable tendency for many of them to align
themselves in readily discernible, rather neat rows along the sunlit side
of the dunes. This raises the possibility of phototropism, i.e., a biological
response to sunlight.
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- In sum, I think it is possible that we are looking at
photosensitive, living organisms that grow in clump-like fashion in crater
bowls on Mars. In this, and similar, photos I believe it is entirely possible
that we are seeing Martian life forms analogous to terrestrial plants.
I also think that NASA/JPL/MSSS know this and publicly say nothing. Of
course, I readily concede that I could be wrong -- but I really do think
I might be right!
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- 2) http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/nonmaps/M0304786.gif
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- This is another large file, so it will take some time
to load, especially if you have a slow internet connection. The feature
of interest here occurs about 50% of the way down. Here you can clearly
see the dune-like ridges that run across the bottom of the canyon that
prominently crosses the field of view of the image.
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- There has been a great deal of speculation on the internet
about features like this. Judging from his posts Richard Hoagland believes
that these are artificially constructed "tubes" or "pipes.
Jeff Rense, following Hoagland's lead, evidently shares a similar view.
In private communications with still others there is the sentiment that
this class of features (which is visible in several photos that I have
seen) represents artificially constructed "tubes" or perhaps
"worm sign", i.e., possible tracks of putative, giant Martian
life forms analogous to the enormous sand worms that Frank Herbert mentions
in his popular series of "Dune" science fiction books about an
extraterrestrial civilization on a fantastic, alien, desert planet that
somewhat resembles Mars.
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- I am not inclined to accept these views. To my eye, these
features appear to be natural dunes of sand and soil deposited by the wind.
I believe that is the most likely explanation for them. In my experience,
this class of features (which I have observed in multiple, different Mars
photos) has a tendency to appear in the bottoms of rills, canyons, and
stream beds. The natural action of wind funneling sand and soil into these
depressions in the surface is not hard to understand.
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- Could there be a non-geological explanation for these
dunes? Perhaps. If so, it seems to me that it would run along these lines:
we know (now that NASA/MSSS have admitted the obvious) that there may be
occasional bursts of liquid water that flow from the sides/walls of Martian
craters and canyons. If there is technologically capable life on Mars,
it may have adapted to these occasional, episodic flows of water by strategically
constructing series of dams in the bottoms of canyons and stream beds.
If and when a burst of water gushes from a canyon wall, the series of dams
would retain the moisture and keep it from flowing away, thereby keeping
it in situ and available for localized use. Mind you, this is an entirely
hypothetical scenario. But if there is a non-geological explanation for
the rippled, dune-like features that appear in the bottoms of some canyons
and rills then I would be inclined to believe that the hypothesis I have
advanced here may be close to the explanation. If this hypothetical scenario
were to be true, there would seem to be two possibilities for the technology
behind the "dams": 1) that they would be built by life forms
working instinctively (after the manner of, say, terrestrial beavers, who
are biologically programmed to build dams); or 2) that they would be built
by life forms with a non-instinctive technology, i.e., using tools, plans,
social organization based on symbolic communication, etc. In either case,
a hypothetical Martian life form may, or may not, resemble any terrestrial
life forms with which we are familiar.
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- 3) http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/images/M0100095.html
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- "Ma'adim Vallis main trough and tributary valley."
"Ma'adim". It even sounds like something out of "Dune",
doesn't it? But I digress. I saw something of interest in the narrow-angle
photo, in the canyon at the very bottom of the photo. So I clicked on the
"full-size image, processed but NOT map-projected" to see it
in greater detail. (It is another large file, so it will take a while to
load.)
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- http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/nonmaps/M0100095.gif
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- The image is flipped upside down, but about 25% of the
way down there is another, rippled series of "dunes" (visible
near the bottom of the narrow-angle photo, but near the top of the image
here, due to the image's having been rotated 180 degrees). Once again,
try as I might, I simply cannot see Richard Hoagland's "tubes"
or pipes". To my eye, this class of features is composed of rows of
natural dunes. I remain to be persuaded otherwise.
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- 4) http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/images/M0102543.html
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- Another blurry, out of focus, narrow-angle photo that
is of high interest. What is that wavy, white stuff? Snow drifts? Ice fields?
Sand dunes. Something else more exotic? I went to the "full-size image,
processed but NOT map-projected" (.gif image) and found that in this
case (flipped upside down again) it is an even smaller image with less
discernible detail than with the .html image. Wouldn't it be interesting
to see this photo more clearly?
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- 5) http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/nonmaps/M0201818.gif
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- This is another slow-to-load .gif image, but the main
feature of interest is right in the top portion. The contrast is exceptionally
poor, but notice the extensive, and very regular, honey comb-like pattern
of intricately interlocked polygons. Here on Earth, patterns of polygons
are often found in the polar regions, due to the extreme cold. Cold temperatures
can result in a phenomenon known as frost heaving, which can create curious
patterns of polygons in the soil. It can also cause the rock to split and
fracture in geometric patterns. Is that happening here? Has the rock/soil
in this photo formed geometrically regular patterns due to the temperature
extremes of the Martian climate? Due to the action of the wind? Or is the
geometrically regular pattern that is visible here caused by some other
phenomenon? Like maybe by a life form? I don't know, one way or the other.
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- The contrast on this image is so extremely poor that
it makes it hard to view clearly. Perhaps some of you with better and faster
computers, and more sophisticated imaging software than I have, would like
to take this image, correct the contrast, and repost it to the "Sightings"
website. The lower portions have some dune-like ripples and dark spots
in the dunes that might also prove interesting with better contrast.
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- 6) http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/maps/M0203299.gif
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- Yikes! (Another large file, but the feature of interest
is very near the top.)
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- This one was sent to me by an alert reader. I like it!
I really do! Look in the very upper right-hand corner. What is it? A small
crater with an interesting dark blotch? If so, it is very interesting.
The bottom segment is separated from the top by a white area of brighter
albedo than any other feature in the entire photo. In addition, the bottom
segment has a pronounced "V" shape, whereas the top part has
a diffuse, hemispherical shape.
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- 7) http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/images/AB113005.html
http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/images/AB113306.html
http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/images/AB113605.html
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- This image is almost totally black. But click through
on the "full-size view, processed but NOT map projected and you see
an image of a cratered terrain crisscrossed by gullies and canyons. Does
the .gif image correspond to the .html image? I don't know, because the
latter is almost totally black. Maybe it does. But who can really tell,
since the reference image is blacked out?
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- http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/nonmaps/AB113605.gif
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- This gif image will take a while to load. It ranges from
totally black to lighter shades of grey where a fair amount of detail is
visible -- if you squint. About 75% of the way down a peculiar band of
symbols is superimposed over the image that gives every appearance of being
inserted to cover what is there. I doubt very much that it correponds to
an objective feature on Mars. Then again at about 95% of the way down,
toward the very bottom of the .gif image, there is another peculiar band
of anomalous "noise" that looks a little too contrived to be
just static or "noise". Is there something present, even in this
very badly degraded image, that someone doesn't want us to see? Take a
look and decide for yourself.
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- http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/images/FHA01080.html http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/images/M0101624.html
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- More very badly degraded photos.
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- http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/images/M0303774.html
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- Here is the "Ma'adim Vallis" again. Not! It
is actually another red "x". Just another bad NASA/JPL/MSSS hyperlink,
because they don't check their work and pretty good is good enough for
the likes of you and me? Or is there something there that NASA/JPL/MSSS
don't want you and me to see? I don't know, but the more I look at these
27,500 photos the more bad links, black photos and highly degraded photos
I find.
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- 8) http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/mediummaps/M0102974.jpg
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- Finally, there is this one. Another very degraded photo,
just covered with black spots and also with myriad rectilinear lines and
right angles. And like so many other photos containing suggestions of geometric
regularity it is blurry, out of focus and has poor contrast. I have encountered
several of these sorts of photos by now. The question remains: is the suggestion
of artificial features (with myriad straight lines and right-angles) a
function of the extremely poor photography, or do we see extremely poor
photography in this class of photos to obscure and confuse features that
would otherwise raise obvious questions in the casual observer's eyes were
he, or she, to see them more clearly?
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- I ask that, because the .gif version of this same shot
does not seem to have the black spots.
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- http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/nonmaps/M0102974.gif
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- It seems to me the black spots were inserted. Using the
imaging program I have, it looks as though the black spots are present
in the .jpg version, but not the .gif version of this photo. But the .gif
version of this photo is very small -- not at all as clear and large as
the other .gif images I posted above, and out of focus. Nevertheless, looking
at it in my browser I see right angles and straight lines in some of the
features, especially in the upper half of the image. Are they really there?
Or are they a product of poor photography? I don't know.
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- Here is a project for some of you who have better computers
and imaging software than I do: take this image and improve the contrast
a bit, and enlarge it just enough (but not too much) to bring out the detail
that is there, but without enlarging it so much that the detail is distorted
and drowned by "noise". E-mail me your results, if you would
be so kind. I would like to see them.
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- That's it until next time.
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