A crater with wings!
Click for full image.
Cool image time! The photo to the right, cropped and reduced to post here, was taken on April 5, 2021 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), and shows a particularly unusual crater in the southern mid-latitudes on the eastern edge of Hellas Basin.
This region east of Hellas is where scientists have spotted many features that suggest buried glaciers. The terraced material inside this crater, as well as the splattered material surrounding it on three sides, are examples of such glacial material. You can also see similar glacial features, though less pronounced, inside the crater to the north.
The global map of Mars below marks the general location of this crater by a blue cross.
Click for high resolution clean version.
The areas bordered by white are regions where many many glacier features are found. The two white hatched lines at 30 degrees latitude, north and south, indicate the equatorial region where few such ice features are found, suggesting a surface that is arid and dry.
The main question invoked by this image however is the wing-shaped splat emanating out from the crater on its east, south, and west sides. Why not on the north?
My guess is that the crater impact just to the north occurred after this crater, and when it hit its own splat obliterated the northern splat of the southern crater. That is just a guess of course.
Regardless, the geological events that created this crater also created something reminiscent of the intelligent bird god Garuda from Buddhist and Hindu tradition. And since we now know that flight is possible on Mars, who knows what strange things might someday be found there.
Now available in hardback and paperback as well as ebook!
From the press release: In this ground-breaking new history of early America, historian Robert Zimmerman not only exposes the lie behind The New York Times 1619 Project that falsely claims slavery is central to the history of the United States, he also provides profound lessons about the nature of human societies, lessons important for Americans today as well as for all future settlers on Mars and elsewhere in space.
Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space, is a riveting page-turning story that documents how slavery slowly became pervasive in the southern British colonies of North America, colonies founded by a people and culture that not only did not allow slavery but in every way were hostile to the practice.
Conscious Choice does more however. In telling the tragic history of the Virginia colony and the rise of slavery there, Zimmerman lays out the proper path for creating healthy societies in places like the Moon and Mars.
“Zimmerman’s ground-breaking history provides every future generation the basic framework for establishing new societies on other worlds. We would be wise to heed what he says.” —Robert Zubrin, founder of founder of the Mars Society.
All editions available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and all book vendors. The ebook can be purchased direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit, in which case you don't support the big tech companies and I get a bigger cut much sooner. Note that the price for the ebook, $3.99, goes up to $5.99 on September 1, 2022.
Autographed printed copies are also available at discount directly from me (hardback $24.95; paperback $14.95). Just email me at zimmerman @ nasw dot org.
Click for full image.
Cool image time! The photo to the right, cropped and reduced to post here, was taken on April 5, 2021 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), and shows a particularly unusual crater in the southern mid-latitudes on the eastern edge of Hellas Basin.
This region east of Hellas is where scientists have spotted many features that suggest buried glaciers. The terraced material inside this crater, as well as the splattered material surrounding it on three sides, are examples of such glacial material. You can also see similar glacial features, though less pronounced, inside the crater to the north.
The global map of Mars below marks the general location of this crater by a blue cross.
Click for high resolution clean version.
The areas bordered by white are regions where many many glacier features are found. The two white hatched lines at 30 degrees latitude, north and south, indicate the equatorial region where few such ice features are found, suggesting a surface that is arid and dry.
The main question invoked by this image however is the wing-shaped splat emanating out from the crater on its east, south, and west sides. Why not on the north?
My guess is that the crater impact just to the north occurred after this crater, and when it hit its own splat obliterated the northern splat of the southern crater. That is just a guess of course.
Regardless, the geological events that created this crater also created something reminiscent of the intelligent bird god Garuda from Buddhist and Hindu tradition. And since we now know that flight is possible on Mars, who knows what strange things might someday be found there.
Now available in hardback and paperback as well as ebook!
From the press release: In this ground-breaking new history of early America, historian Robert Zimmerman not only exposes the lie behind The New York Times 1619 Project that falsely claims slavery is central to the history of the United States, he also provides profound lessons about the nature of human societies, lessons important for Americans today as well as for all future settlers on Mars and elsewhere in space.
Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space, is a riveting page-turning story that documents how slavery slowly became pervasive in the southern British colonies of North America, colonies founded by a people and culture that not only did not allow slavery but in every way were hostile to the practice.
Conscious Choice does more however. In telling the tragic history of the Virginia colony and the rise of slavery there, Zimmerman lays out the proper path for creating healthy societies in places like the Moon and Mars.
“Zimmerman’s ground-breaking history provides every future generation the basic framework for establishing new societies on other worlds. We would be wise to heed what he says.” —Robert Zubrin, founder of founder of the Mars Society.
All editions available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and all book vendors. The ebook can be purchased direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit, in which case you don't support the big tech companies and I get a bigger cut much sooner. Note that the price for the ebook, $3.99, goes up to $5.99 on September 1, 2022.
Autographed printed copies are also available at discount directly from me (hardback $24.95; paperback $14.95). Just email me at zimmerman @ nasw dot org.
Did NASA drop a crate of Red Bull in there? (Gives you wings!)
The ‘top’ of the crater rim right above the circular plain might be cut into a waterfall one day.
I like the way that the bits of the wings that are blurry and out of focus actually are not.. this image really messes with my visual cortex!! Cool image!