The Daily Croissant |
Eclectic Perambulations in the Noosphere |
"A new batch of sharp Martian close-ups from NASA's HiRISE camera were released on Sept. 1. HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) has been circling Mars on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for four years now, taking dramatic photos of the red planet with a telephoto lens to make any paparazzi jealous. The camera can focus on objects the size of a beach ball from more than 180 miles away."
"Orcus Patera is an enigmatic elliptical depression located between the volcanoes of Elysium Mons and Olympus Mons. This well-defined depression extends approximately 380 km by 140 km in a NNE–SSW direction. It has a rim that rises up to 1800 m above the surrounding plains, while the floor of the depression lies 400–600 m below the surroundings. The term ‘patera’ is used for deep, complex or irregularly shaped volcanic craters such as the Hadriaca Patera and Tyrrhena Patera at the north-eastern margin of the Hellas impact basin. However, despite its name and the fact that it is positioned near volcanoes, the actual origin of Orcus Patera remains unclear."
Africa is larger than China, the USA, Western Europe, India, Argentina and the British Isles... combined!
The surface of Mars is electrically eroded.
A chain of electrically etched craters in the Alba Terra region of Mars.
Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
A Moment in Time
Two worlds, one sun: while humans' lives unfolded on Earth, the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity paused in its southward trek and captured this photomosaic. Dusty, reddish-brown sand dunes stretch to the horizon in a view taken around 15:00 local Mars time on May 2.
Amid the over 60,000 newly-released images from the current unmanned NASA probe (MGS), non-NASA “Enterprise Mission” researchers discovered a strange “tubular structure” in the Martian deserts (MOC frame M04-00291), located at about 40 degrees north latitude. This remarkable “tube,” roughly a mile in length and hundreds of feet wide, appears to cling to a desert canyon wall near the canyon’s bottom, and extend along its entire length. The feature has the appearance of being “translucent,” of being supported at somewhat regular intervals by “ribs,” and of being quite cylindrical .
