A congregation of Martian dust devils
Click for full image.
Cool image time! The photo to the right, rotated, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on September 9, 2022 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). It shows a spot on Mars where, as indicated by the many many tracks, dust devils routinely develop and travel across the surface.
Though this whole region appears to favor dust devils, within it are places that are even more favored. For example, the number of tracks on the northern and eastern slopes of that small hill at center left practically cover the surface, while the hill’s western and southern slopes are almost untouched.
Both the overview map and the global Mars map below provide the full context.
The white dot in the center of Argyre Basin marks the location of today’s picture. The full global map below places Argyre on Mars, in the southern mid- to high- latitudes.
Argyre Basin, though not as deep or as large as Hellas Basin, is still the second largest such basin on Mars, about 1,100 miles in diameter with its lowest elevation 17,000 feet below the surrounding southern cratered highlands. Like Hellas, it is thought to be the remains of major impact.
Relatively few high resolution images have been taken by MRO within Argyre Basin since the orbiter reached Mars orbit in 2006, as shown by the red spots on the archive map here. Even this photo was not requested by a scientist pursuing a specific research project. Instead, it was taken in order to fill a gap in MRO’s picture-taking schedule to maintain the camera’s temperature. When such gaps occur, the MRO science team picks a random location to take a picture. Sometimes they capture something baffling, sometimes not. In this case they snapped a picture of a location where dust devils like to gather, for reasons unknown.
I suspect that the reasons Argyre Basin has been largely ignored by researchers is because there are just too many more other exciting things on Mars to study, especially in connection with water. For example, the areas outlined with a white line on the global map below are regions where many glaciers have been identified. In these places a lot of MRO pictures have been taken.
This basin just hasn’t yet sparked enough interest yet. That will change eventually, but it will simply take time.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
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Click for full image.
Cool image time! The photo to the right, rotated, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on September 9, 2022 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). It shows a spot on Mars where, as indicated by the many many tracks, dust devils routinely develop and travel across the surface.
Though this whole region appears to favor dust devils, within it are places that are even more favored. For example, the number of tracks on the northern and eastern slopes of that small hill at center left practically cover the surface, while the hill’s western and southern slopes are almost untouched.
Both the overview map and the global Mars map below provide the full context.
The white dot in the center of Argyre Basin marks the location of today’s picture. The full global map below places Argyre on Mars, in the southern mid- to high- latitudes.
Argyre Basin, though not as deep or as large as Hellas Basin, is still the second largest such basin on Mars, about 1,100 miles in diameter with its lowest elevation 17,000 feet below the surrounding southern cratered highlands. Like Hellas, it is thought to be the remains of major impact.
Relatively few high resolution images have been taken by MRO within Argyre Basin since the orbiter reached Mars orbit in 2006, as shown by the red spots on the archive map here. Even this photo was not requested by a scientist pursuing a specific research project. Instead, it was taken in order to fill a gap in MRO’s picture-taking schedule to maintain the camera’s temperature. When such gaps occur, the MRO science team picks a random location to take a picture. Sometimes they capture something baffling, sometimes not. In this case they snapped a picture of a location where dust devils like to gather, for reasons unknown.
I suspect that the reasons Argyre Basin has been largely ignored by researchers is because there are just too many more other exciting things on Mars to study, especially in connection with water. For example, the areas outlined with a white line on the global map below are regions where many glaciers have been identified. In these places a lot of MRO pictures have been taken.
This basin just hasn’t yet sparked enough interest yet. That will change eventually, but it will simply take time.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
I had thought there was a discussion here somewhere concerning the collective noun for dust devils. I may be confusing it with something else. However, the question stands: what is the collective term for dust devils? One may assume gender-neutrality.
Suggest ‘whirl’.
Blair-
Good one.