Changing Mars
For the full images click here (2019) and here (2020).
While Mars appears to be a dead planet, with no clear evidence of life so far discovered, the planet is hardly inactive. Things are changing there continuously, even if it happens at a slower pace than here on Earth.
To the right are two images, rotated, cropped, and reduced to post here, taken by the high resolution camera of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The first was on January 19, 2019, shortly after the end of the global dust storm that engulfed Mars during that Martian year. The second was taken on February 14, 2020, half a Martian year later. Both show one of a string of dark splotches located on the western flanks of the giant volcano Olympus Mons. Scientists call these splotches maculae, and because of their superficial resemblance to the islands of Hawaii, have given them names matching those islands. This particular patch is dubbed Maui. Below is a map showing all the splotches and their position relative to Olympus Mons, taken from a 2019 presentation [pdf].
I wrote about these splotches in December 2019, describing them as magnets for dust devils. For reasons not yet clearly understood, these dark areas attract dust devils, which act to clear off any dust that might get blown there by large dust storms such as the one in 2018.
The two images above illustrate this quite clearly. Right after the global dust storm the outer edges of the splotch have become very indistinct, the overall splotch is lighter, and there several dust devil tracks visible. Apparently that dust storm had deposited a layer of dust across the entire face of the maculae, lightening it considerably.
A half Martian year later the splotch is dark, its edges clearly defined, and all dust devil tracks are gone.
To confirm my impressions I emailed geologist Kirby Runyon of the Applied Physics Lab in Maryland, who has been studying these splotches for years and had helped answer my questions previously. He added that the dark splotch had actually
…gone back largely to how it was in 2009. I note dust devil tracks are now gone—probably because the whole macula has been stripped of dust and not just in individual dust devil tracks.
In other words, these dark maculae attract so many dust devils that they were able to literally vacuum the entire splotch in less than half a Martian year, removing not only the scattered dust but any evidence of their own tracks.
The mystery here however is that scientists do not detect dust devils in any of the surrounding terrain. Only above these splotches do the devils congregate. Even more baffling, when they reach the splotch’s edge they apparently just fade away.
The support of my readers through the years has given 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. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in the past two weeks has the mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
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. Even today NASA and Congress refuses to 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.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five 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.
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5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
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c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
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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. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
For the full images click here (2019) and here (2020).
While Mars appears to be a dead planet, with no clear evidence of life so far discovered, the planet is hardly inactive. Things are changing there continuously, even if it happens at a slower pace than here on Earth.
To the right are two images, rotated, cropped, and reduced to post here, taken by the high resolution camera of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The first was on January 19, 2019, shortly after the end of the global dust storm that engulfed Mars during that Martian year. The second was taken on February 14, 2020, half a Martian year later. Both show one of a string of dark splotches located on the western flanks of the giant volcano Olympus Mons. Scientists call these splotches maculae, and because of their superficial resemblance to the islands of Hawaii, have given them names matching those islands. This particular patch is dubbed Maui. Below is a map showing all the splotches and their position relative to Olympus Mons, taken from a 2019 presentation [pdf].
I wrote about these splotches in December 2019, describing them as magnets for dust devils. For reasons not yet clearly understood, these dark areas attract dust devils, which act to clear off any dust that might get blown there by large dust storms such as the one in 2018.
The two images above illustrate this quite clearly. Right after the global dust storm the outer edges of the splotch have become very indistinct, the overall splotch is lighter, and there several dust devil tracks visible. Apparently that dust storm had deposited a layer of dust across the entire face of the maculae, lightening it considerably.
A half Martian year later the splotch is dark, its edges clearly defined, and all dust devil tracks are gone.
To confirm my impressions I emailed geologist Kirby Runyon of the Applied Physics Lab in Maryland, who has been studying these splotches for years and had helped answer my questions previously. He added that the dark splotch had actually
…gone back largely to how it was in 2009. I note dust devil tracks are now gone—probably because the whole macula has been stripped of dust and not just in individual dust devil tracks.
In other words, these dark maculae attract so many dust devils that they were able to literally vacuum the entire splotch in less than half a Martian year, removing not only the scattered dust but any evidence of their own tracks.
The mystery here however is that scientists do not detect dust devils in any of the surrounding terrain. Only above these splotches do the devils congregate. Even more baffling, when they reach the splotch’s edge they apparently just fade away.
The support of my readers through the years has given 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. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in the past two weeks has the mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
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. Even today NASA and Congress refuses to 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.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five 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:
5. 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. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
War of the Worlds remember that have been talking about Life on Mars for a long time and marvin and K-9 and Instant Martians(Just add Water)and all that other stuff