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- Welcome to another installment of "Curious Martian
Anomalies". Get ready to see some really interesting photos. I suspect
there is life on Mars, perhaps very different from what we are accustomed
to on Earth. Certainly it appears there may be a great deal more water
than we have thought.
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- This installment features links to several extraordinary
photos that readers have sent in. This is turning into a real, international
collaborative effort. Continue to send me links to interesting photos,
by all means! But since it is a little time consuming I will have to have
a hiatus for awhile -- maybe a few weeks. After that I may resume posting
more Mars material. Or maybe not.
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- So for now -- this is it. But I'm leaving you with really
good stuff! On to the photos:
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- 1. http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/images/M0401718.html
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- A reader called my attention to this one. Down towards
the bottom you can see a really fine example of the "Dalmatian Spots".
Click here for a larger view of the feature. The file is large and will
take some time to download. But it is worth it. This is perhaps the finest
example of this type of feature that I have seen yet.
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- http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/nonmaps/M0401718.gif
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- Judging from remarks on the MSSS website, their analysts
feel the spots are melted, or sublimated, patches in the frost cover on
the bottoms of polar craters, that reveal the underlying, dark surface
material. This may very well be true.However, MSSS express puzzlement as
to why these patches should align themselves in rows. The MSSS commentary
echoes my previously stated feeling that we may be looking at some type
of life form in this type of photo, by acknowledging that many people feel
they are looking at "bushes" when they see these features. The
MSSS commentary also mentions that there is some resemblance to tufts of
grass, as we see among dunes here on Earth. This is an observation that
has also occurred to me, so I was not surprised to see MSSS make it. I
believe that many people have that feeling when they look at this phenomenon.
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- http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/8_10_99_releases/moc2_166/index.html
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- In the commentary for the next photo MSSS mention that
no one knows why the spots on some of these craters tend to align themselves
in long rows. I still wonder if it might not be because there is some kind
of life form there that is aligned in rows.
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- http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/8_10_99_releases/moc2_167/index.html
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- 2. http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/images/M0102822.html
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- The feature that caught my eye here is not the bright
"splash" from the large crater, but the smaller crater that is
half off the edge of the frame, on the left. From the half that is visible,
it appears to possibly be a fairly regular, hexagonal shape. There is a
shallow trough running down the side of the frame that ends/begins at a
smaller square-shaped feature. Are these possibly artificial features?
Or natural features? You decide.
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- 3. http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/images/M0101220.html
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- The interesting feature here is the "sand dollar"
structure on the left, which is actually a crater, with dark streaks down
the rim. This appears to be an example of a crater with possible water
springs streaming down the slopes, from near the top of the rim.
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- 4. http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/nonmaps/M0401111.gif
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- The interesting feature here occurs about 2/3 the way
down the image. It is a large crater on the left side of the photo. Look
at the "dunes" on its floor. The "dunes" interlock
and interlace, and have a clear network of "ribs", or "buttress"-like
features. Of course, buttresses lend structural stability to towering European
cathedrals. Might these "buttress"-like features serve a similar
function here? Do they provide structural support for the "dunes"?
My very rough, back of the envelope calculations suggest an approximate
diameter for this crater of something like 4,000 ft., or so. My guess is
that the "dunes" therefore are at least several tens of feet
high. The very highest ones may approach 100 ft. high, or so. Are we possibly
looking at a complex, artificial feature with auxiliary support structures
to lend it stability? I don't know, but it occurs to me to ask the question.
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- 5. http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/nonmaps/M0301278.gif
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- Here's one we've looked at before, but I wanted to come
back to it, to remark on something I skated right over the first time--
there are many springs streaming down the sides of these knobs! Let them
load and have a look. Also, notice that there are many dunes in this image.
Notice the natural, irregular feel these dunes have, as opposed to the
other "dune"-like images in various crater bottoms and canyon
bottoms that we have seen. These are clearly natural dunes. When you look
at them, you say to yourself, "Those are dunes." While with the
other "dune"-like class of features you say to yourself, "Those
look like dunes -- but not quite; it almost looks like there's something
else going on with them." Or so it seems to me.
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- 6. http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/nonmaps/M0449202.gif
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- There is a clear example of a spring flowing from the
ridge in the middle of this image.
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- 7. http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/maps/M0204035.gif
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- O.K. Hold onto your hats with both hands. This one was
sent to me by a reader and it is a REAL good one. It takes a while to load.
It is worth every second of the wait.
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- First, I want to comment on the interesting "dune"-like
features that appear in the top portion of this image. I have seen this
class of feature in many Mars images now. About 25% of the way down you
can see a crater in the middle of the image. The floor of the crater is
covered with a "honeycomb" sort of crisscrossed network of dunes.
Now scroll down about 40% of the way and you can see the same sort of feature
spreading over the surface. The thing I find interesting are the many rib-like
or buttress-like features that extend between the "dunes". If
you look closely, you will see what I mean. The "ribs" are clearly
discernible. What are they? I have walked in sand dunes along the Atlantic
Coast and also in the American Southwest, but I do not believe I have ever
seen any just like these. Are they dunes? Or something else that resembles
dunes? I don't know. Could they be a form of life? Or do I have an overactive
imagination? (I concede the possibility!) You decide.
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- Second, scroll down to the bottom of the image for a
spectacular view of what looks like water streaming from the Martian cliffs.
Some of the streams are very dark, suggesting they are recent, maybe even
active when the photo was taken, others are more faded, perhaps indicating
they are drying/evaporating/being absorbed by the soil. It is possible
that what we see in these photos is not water, but it sure looks like water,
doesn't it? And if it is water, then there is a lot of it. And if it really
is water, it is not hard to imagine that there could be life on Mars.
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- 8. http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/nonmaps/M0307572.gif
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- This one was sent to me by the same reader. It's even
BETTER than the previous one, if such a thing is possible. You want water?
By God, here's water! At least, that's what it looks like. Let it load,
it'll take a few minutes. It's worth it, trust me.
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- Look at the sides of the rills, canyons, valleys, hills,
knobs and mesas. There are just dozens and dozens of springs and seeps
streaming down the slopes and hillsides here. They are all over the landscape,
from top to bottom of the image. Mars may be a desert planet, but it does
appear to have a lot of subsurface water bursting out to the surface in
many, many places.
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- Look carefully, with an analytic eye for detail, and
you will notice, not only the dark streaks, but also the many light colored,
whitish streaks or large fan-shaped plumes that stream down the slopes.
They would seem to represent areas of past flow, where the stream has either
evaporated, discolored the soil, or been absorbed by the soil.
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- 9. http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/mediummaps/SP239103.jpg
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- And yet a third one, from the same reader. "Scamander
Vallis". Look at this river canyon. Then look closer-- notice the
dark streaks coming down the canyon rim.
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- Unfortunately, for the intermediate file sizes on this
image all you get is the extremely annoying MSSS red-"x". But
download the very large file at this URL and you will see the "springs"
quite clearly.
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- http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/jpegmaps/SP239103.jpg
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- You can see the springs streaming down the canyon walls,
from below the rim edge.
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- 10. http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/maps/M0307764.gif
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- Finally, sent in by another reader, these very interesting
patterns in the ice at the Martian South Pole. What can they be? It's probably
just ice -- either carbon dioxide ice or water ice. But what if it's something
else? The shapes almost resemble letters of an unknown alphabet, or the
outlines of simple microorganisms seen under magnification. Once again,
a Martian surface feature that looks natural, and maybe just a little bit
more than "natural"Ö Whatever the case, it has a very clean,
stark beauty.
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- I can tell you that a few years ago, while engaged in
a very different kind of research, I spent a lot of time scrutinizing thousands
of photos of the sea ice and inland glaciers of both polar regions here
on Earth and I never saw anything like this. Not even close.
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