mars
May 20, 2012
A piece of Mars: Many small craters on Mars are filled, at least in part, by small dunes or ripples. It’s one of the distinguishing features of Mars — a surface marked by geology both old (craters) and young (dunes). […]
May 17, 2012
A piece of Mars: In the dustier regions of Mars, there are many small dark streaks on steep slopes that we don’t understand well. Because we don’t know much about them we call them “slope streaks”, which is not the […]
May 16, 2012
A piece of Mars: Blueish and yellowish ripples wind their way around a bright hill. The yellowish ones are probably not moving anymore, but the blueish ones are likely still active from time to time. (HiRISE ESP_020889_1320)
May 14, 2012
A piece of Mars: When the wind erodes layered rocks, it can create a dramatic swirly pattern like this. It looks like ribbon ice cream to me. Mmm, rocks. (HiRISE ESP_011582_1730)
May 13, 2012
A piece of Mars: In nature most dunes pile on one another or strongly influence each other. But occasionally, like a perfect flower or crystal, you find a perfectly shaped dune. Here is a crescentic dune, called a “barchan”, formed […]
May 10, 2012
A piece of Mars: The dunes can be so beautiful on Mars. What a lovely vacation spot this would be, provided you brought a large supply of oxygen, food, and a heat source to keep you warm. (HiRISE ESP_026416_1620)
May 9, 2012
A piece of Mars: This is what dunes look like in the deepest part of Mars, where the air is full of bright dust that constantly settles out onto everything. The wind helps to clear off the sand dunes (blue […]
May 8, 2012
A piece of Mars: Patterns within patterns (metapatterns?). These small martian dunes shown an unusual complexity in their crossing lines, indicating that they were formed by winds from several directions (and it is likely that those winds changed over time). […]
May 7, 2012
A piece of Mars: We are looking way up high on Arsia Mons, one of the tallest mountains in the Solar System (its summit is ~19 km high — Mt. Everest tops out at 8.848 km; the location of this […]