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
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
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mckitterick- Chris McKitterick
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- 10 Feb 2019, 20:41I think I saw one of the other layers of this somewhere else.
- 1 Feb 2019, 19:33heh
- 19 Dec 2018, 21:39Thanks so much! I hope you enjoy it.
- 19 Dec 2018, 21:37So much yes to all of this post. I'm going to check out the story when I get home.
- 6 May 2018, 22:00Thanks! I appreciate the comment. Now that I think of it, maybe I ought to do another tune-up...
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Chris
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."