Buried silo on Mars?
Click for original image.
Cool image time! The picture to the right, rotated and cropped to post here, was taken on December 31, 2022 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
The headline is pure silliness, and should not be taken seriously. However, the geological feature is intriguing nonetheless. Its almost perfect circular shape suggests a partly buried or eroded crater, except that its consistent thickness, almost like a wall, does not match what the rims of any crater should look like. Crater rims are made up of ejected material pushed out during impact, and thus always include some chaotic features.
My guess is that this circular feature is volcanic in nature. Maybe this was once a caldera, and the circle indicates a final vent from which lava extruded and then solidified.
At least, that’s my story.
The feature is located in the southwest quadrant of Hellas Basin, the basement of Mars, at 49 degrees south latitude. While this also suggests that ice might help explain this, we must also remember that much of the geology in that basin remains unexplained. Thus, there is no reason not to add one more feature to the list.
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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.
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Click for original image.
Cool image time! The picture to the right, rotated and cropped to post here, was taken on December 31, 2022 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
The headline is pure silliness, and should not be taken seriously. However, the geological feature is intriguing nonetheless. Its almost perfect circular shape suggests a partly buried or eroded crater, except that its consistent thickness, almost like a wall, does not match what the rims of any crater should look like. Crater rims are made up of ejected material pushed out during impact, and thus always include some chaotic features.
My guess is that this circular feature is volcanic in nature. Maybe this was once a caldera, and the circle indicates a final vent from which lava extruded and then solidified.
At least, that’s my story.
The feature is located in the southwest quadrant of Hellas Basin, the basement of Mars, at 49 degrees south latitude. While this also suggests that ice might help explain this, we must also remember that much of the geology in that basin remains unexplained. Thus, there is no reason not to add one more feature to the list.
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.
There has been some speculation that some craters are formed from burst bubbles of molten material. That not ALL craters are caused by impacts. This would give you that uniform ring.
Is there any estimate how wide the circumference?