Stunning Pictures of Avalanche on Mars

These high-res. pictures are beautiful.

A NASA spacecraft has taken the first-ever image of an avalanche in action near Mars' north pole.

The High Resolution Imaging Experiment (HiRISE) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took the photograph Feb. 19. The image shows tan clouds billowing away from the foot of a towering slope, where ice and dust have just cascaded down.

~image~

~nasa press release~



[edit on 3-3-2008 by hsur2112]

Very cool.
Talk about NASA looking at the right place at the right time!

Let's hope the Mars Phoenix Lander finds a safer place than this to land near the Martian North Pole when it gets there in May.

[edit on 3/3/2008 by Soylent Green Is People]

reply to post by Soylent Green Is People


The detail in the photos is what caught my attention. The article said that they don't know what caused it, but if you ask me.....

...the "figure on Mars" went skiing down a slope that he shouldn't have.

Avalanche or strip mining operation? I would love to see a really close up shot just to be sure. Our Solar System is a much busier place than some would have you believe. I wonder what John Lear or Zorgon would have to say on this.
Just a thought,
regards,
Horsegiver.

The definition is the best I have seen yet. I can't wait to see what else we get! Give us the good stuff and let us all do some research.

reply to post by horsegiver


This is a close-up.
(Click the image to see it all)



This image has a resolution of 0.25 metres per pixel (or a little less than 10 inches, for the decimal impaired ATS members ).

So, it is too small for a mine, unless Mars has Lilliputian miners.

[edit on 3/3/2008 by ArMaP]

reply to post by horsegiver


Here's a higher res image of the one from the article and here is a link to the HiRISE site with links to the original images.

armap, thanks for the image. I'm photo-illiterate when it comes to posting pictures.

jra, thanks for the links.

Many thanks to JRA and ArMaP, very kind of you both, and a star to each of you, it's really great when help arrives so swiftly.
Kindest Regards,
Horsegiver.

Very cool indeed.

I have always been fascinated with the 'red planet' and always look forward to the Nasa missions; I think there is another craft due to touch down on Mars this month actually!

reply to post by Smugallo


The Pheonix Lander gets there in May, then this according to the above posted nasa release...

"We plan to launch a total of five more missions in the next decade, beginning with the Mars Science Lab rover next year and a Mars Aeronomy Scout mission in 2013."

Nice post - way cool pics. Movement on Mars even if its just erosion tells us that Mars is not completely dead yet. The more we see on Mars that is like Earth the easier it becomes to believe life may have or still does visit there.

[edit on 4-3-2008 by verylowfrequency]

i am intrigued by the sudden release of information that gives the appearance of erosive factors on Mars. Yesterday on yahoo, there was a link or two about the crater "water run off" that they say is actually just dirt slides.

So now we have fairly significant erosive factors at play.

What if it was actually attributed to a missile launch from a mobile star wars type satellite/probe they are testing out?

This is sweet!

and I can't believe no one spotted this already!

As cool as this picture is.. its definately not strip mining and surely not some type of missile attack.. geez

Mars has a liquidy type core, there is certainly some gravitational force that affects the surface from the inside. Some planetary geochemists say that if the core freezes (and theres a good chance it might) it will become liquid metal which is very similar to the core of earth, restoring magnetism.


[edit on 4-3-2008 by arclore]

I think its those pesky Nazis in their UFOs.

www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread333937/pg4

Everyone knows about the German-Japanese 1944 expedition to Mars.

Not content with Neuschwabenland, they are now building bases on Mars!

Something should be done about it.

Ice and Gravity are two of the most powerful erosive factors there are. Mars has both.

Strip mining sounds more like wishful thinking than plausible theory. Sometimes a slide is just a slide. In fact nearly always a slide is a slide.

Here are some more images:

Shown above is another close-up view of a volcanic cone. The cone is just visible half way down the dark side of the slope.

This image, taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft, shows what appears to be a dust-covered frozen sea near the Martian equator.

This perspective view – the first ever produced of Mars’ north polar ice cap – shows layers of water ice and dust that lead to cliffs, which drop nearly 1.2 miles (two kilometers) down to lower terrain. Dark material in the lower, caldera-like regions may be a sign of volcanic ash.

ESA's Mars Express spacecraft spotted fields of volcanic cones at the Martian north pole; some rise up to 600 meters high. Scientists speculate that this may be an indication of very recent volcanic activity.

This is a close-up view of the Martian north polar ice cap. This view gives a more in-depth look at the layers of water ice and dust on the region.

~source~


Enjoy!

reply to post by hsur2112


Whoo-hoo! I'm replying to myself because it took me since November to figure out how to resize and post pictures and I wasn't sure if it worked.

Can I star myself? Just kidding!