Newly released picture of the Mars surface near its north pole

[CatWoman]

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

1. Source?

Also, James Cameron is gonna be pissed that Mars stole his ideas.

[WeDidIt]

7. The source is Fox News

Looking at the URL for the picture.

[flakey_foont]

9. here

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/01/11/another-dose-of-martian-awesome/

[flakey_foont]

10. dupe

[CatWoman]

14. I'm sorry - forgot to put it in my op

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

24. Wow.

Amazing photo.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

2. Delete. Dupe. n/t

[Bill219]

3. Question?

What are those tree looking things in the picture?

[LostInAnomie]

13. It's an optical illusion.

What you are looking at is a very large ice dune. As the sun melts away the ice sand fills cracks and from certain angles the dark creation appears like trees or some other structure.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/13/mars-tree-photo-nasa-hiri_n_421507.html

Here's a larger picture where it's a little easier to see:

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

18. That is my wallpaper now. -nt

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

4. Mmmm, strawberry ice cream with chocolate chips.

[Richardo]

5. those are not *plants* are they?

[Uncle Joe]

16. Mars Flytraps, the ones on Venus are really hot. n/t

[gateley]

6. What are those things poking out of the ground? This is really fascinating - thanks! nt

[trotsky]

8. FAUX news has the whole story.

No, they're not trees.
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/01/13/martian-tree-illusion/?test=latestnews

[JHB]

17. Go to the source and bypass the Faux

http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_007962_2635

There is a vast region of sand dunes at high northern latitudes on Mars. In the winter, a layer of carbon dioxide ice covers the dunes, and in the spring as the sun warms the ice it evaporates. This is a very active process, and sand dislodged from the crests of the dunes cascades down, forming dark streaks.

In the subimage falling material has kicked up a small cloud of dust. The color of the ice surrounding adjacent streaks of material suggests that dust has settled on the ice at the bottom after similar events.

[DJ13]

11. I think I saw the same thing on an acid trip in the 70's

Thanks for posting that!

[mmonk]

22. We must have traveled about the same time.

[CatWoman]

23. and I still haven't unpacked my bags

:)

[LongTomH]

12. There's a great discussion of this picture over at Phil Platt's Bad Astronomy site.

Another dose of Martian awesome:

That is not a closeup of my chin before I shave. It’s Mars, a dune field in the far north; at latitude 83.5° to be precise, less than 400 km (240 miles) from the north pole. The eternal Martian wind blows the heavy sand into dunes, and you can see the hummocks and ripples from this across the image. The sand on Mars is from basalt, which is a darkish gray color. The red comes from much smaller dust particles which settle everywhere.

But what are those weird tendril thingies?

In the Martian winter, carbon dioxide freezes out of the air (and you thought it was cold where you are). In the summer, that CO2 sublimates; that is, turns directly from a solid to a gas. When that happens the sand gets disturbed, and falls down the slopes in little channels, which spreads out when it hits the bottom. But this disturbs the red dust, too, which flows with the sand. When it’s all done, you get those feathery tendrils. Note that at the tendril tips, you see blotches of red; that’s probably from the lighter dust billowing a bit before settling down.

I heartily recommend the Bad Astronomy website; it's still my favorite "science is fun" site.
:thumbsup:

[CatWoman]

15. thanks very much, Tom

:hi:

[Richardo]

20. Excellent.

Love that site. Thanks.

[csziggy]

19. At first I thought this was a fractal image!

The semi-random patterns give that impression.

Beautiful in an alien world sort of way. Thanks!

[bain_sidhe]

21. OOh! Way cool!! n/t

[Soylent Brice]

25. that's insane.