Alien textured Martian lava
Click for original image.
Cool image time! The picture to the right, cropped to post here, was taken on February 17, 2023 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), and shows what the science team labels “regularly textured ground on Pavonis Mons.”
The arrow in the picture indicates the downhill trend. If you look at the full image, you will see that this texture pattern extends in all directions for a considerable distance, both uphill and down, and even covers the entire floor of a depression that appears to contour along the grade instead of going downhill.
The latitude here is very close to the equator. So, even though the elevation is high, being on the slopes of a giant volcano, there is probably no near surface ice here.
The green dot on the northern flank of the giant volcano Pavonis Mons on the overview map to the right marks this location, which also suggests that everything we see here should be flood lava that flowed downhill as it poured out of vents on the volcano’s sides or from its caldera about fifty miles away and about 16,000 feet higher up. Yet why should that lava harden with such a precisely repeating texture pattern?
I wonder if we might looking at a thick layer of volcanic ash that has been shaped by the prevailing winds. I don’t have much confidence in this guess, but I can’t think of any other reason lava would have such a regular textured pattern.
All in all, this image once again illustrates the alienness of Mars. It is a planet with many features reminiscent of Earth, all of which become stranger and more alien the closer you look at them.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Click for original image.
Cool image time! The picture to the right, cropped to post here, was taken on February 17, 2023 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), and shows what the science team labels “regularly textured ground on Pavonis Mons.”
The arrow in the picture indicates the downhill trend. If you look at the full image, you will see that this texture pattern extends in all directions for a considerable distance, both uphill and down, and even covers the entire floor of a depression that appears to contour along the grade instead of going downhill.
The latitude here is very close to the equator. So, even though the elevation is high, being on the slopes of a giant volcano, there is probably no near surface ice here.
The green dot on the northern flank of the giant volcano Pavonis Mons on the overview map to the right marks this location, which also suggests that everything we see here should be flood lava that flowed downhill as it poured out of vents on the volcano’s sides or from its caldera about fifty miles away and about 16,000 feet higher up. Yet why should that lava harden with such a precisely repeating texture pattern?
I wonder if we might looking at a thick layer of volcanic ash that has been shaped by the prevailing winds. I don’t have much confidence in this guess, but I can’t think of any other reason lava would have such a regular textured pattern.
All in all, this image once again illustrates the alienness of Mars. It is a planet with many features reminiscent of Earth, all of which become stranger and more alien the closer you look at them.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
That is a pic of my dorms carpet! It’s nassy… 😏