Strange “polygons” appear in images of spring on Mars
It’s spring on Mars, and mysterious polygons are in bloom. A new image from an orbiting high resolution imaging experiment (HIRISE) camera is shown.
Images recorded on March 30, 2022 show white zigzag patchwork cracking across Martian soil at high latitudes, with occasional black and blue fog sprayed between them. Zigzags and colorful sprays are characteristic of Mars’ spring, and researchers at the University of Arizona are managing the HIRISE mission when a hidden reservoir of underground ice hits a dry surface of Mars. statement Monday (June 20th).
“Both water and dry ice play a major role in sculpting the surface of Mars at high latitudes,” the researchers write. “Water ice frozen in the soil divides the ground into polygons.”
The edges of these polygons crack and fray in the spring as the surface ice changes from solid to gas. This is a process called sublimation. When this transformation occurs, dry ice vents erupt from the surface of Mars, spreading dark fan-shaped particle deposits across the ground. As dark particles sink into the dry ice on the surface, bright marks (shown as whitish blue stripes in the image above) stain the ground.
A single ice vent can be opened and closed multiple times, spraying particles in different directions across the surface of Mars in response to the wind. Therefore, in some areas you will see several different bright and dark streaks protruding from a single vent. Both fans and polygons can stick for years, slowly distorting the landscape of Mars as the ice seasonally expands and contracts.
The HIRISE camera is onboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which launched its mission in 2006. The orbiter has flown about 155 to 196 miles (250 to 216 km) on Earth and has photographed a treasure trove of strange and interesting images over the past few years. Decades. For example, in 2018, Orbiter had a glimpse of the formation of rocks and craters. Bug Eye Mappet BeakerScreams near the South Pole of Mars.
Perhaps even more impressive is the orbiter’s Image of Valles MarinerisThe largest canyon in us Solar system (Therefore, the largest known canyon in the universe).Straddles almost 10 times the length of EarthThe Grand Canyon and three times as deep canyons remain a mystery of Martian geology. Scientists really don’t know how it was formed. When mappets are involved, they are keeping the truth to themselves.
Originally published on Live Science.
Strange “polygons” appear in images of spring on Mars
Source link Strange “polygons” appear in images of spring on Mars
