* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: Mars

Blobrana · L

What's painting Mars? Every spring, dark streaks appear on its polar dunes, which may be caused by liquid water near the surface - a fillip for the hunt for life.
The dark streaks of sand a few metres wide slide downslope at about a metre a day.

"They show a branching pattern, so it seems like some liquid material is flowing" - Akos Kereszturi at the Collegium Budapest in Hungary.

Read more

Blobrana · L

La surabondance des sols martiens en sulfate, associée à une absence de calcaires qui contrastent avec les surfaces terrestres, est une des énigmes de la planète rouge. En se basant sur l'estimation de la composition des basaltes martiens, des chercheurs de l'Institut des Sciences de la Terre d'Orléans (INSU-CNRS-Université d'Orléans) montrent que la teneur en soufre des gaz volcaniques de Mars devait être 10 à 50 supérieure à celle de leurs équivalents terrestres (revue EPSL sous presse). Ces gaz riches en sulfite ont dû acidifier les eaux de surface et très vraisemblablement limiter, voire, empêcher la formation de carbonate sédimentaire sur la planète rouge.

Read more (French)

Blobrana · L

Mars Hot Springs
Mounds on Mars that could be from ancient hot springs are described in a new study, after setting the astrobiology community abuzz last spring.
Hydrothermal springs on Earth, like those in Yellowstone National Park, harbour what scientists figure are the closest relatives to the original organisms that lived on our planet. Finding these features on Mars (or any other planet) could have big implications for the question of extraterrestrial life.
Mars has many features that suggest the planet was once warmer and wetter. At the least, the ancient vents - if that's what they are - would make great places to look for signs of past life.

Read more

Blobrana · L

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has approved names for four Martian craters: Danielson, Galap, Lipik, and Sarh.


Name      Latitude   Longitude   Diameter     Origin
Danielson    7.93      7.11      66.7         G. Edward Danielson, Jr. (1939-2005).
Galap      -37.67      167.19     5.9         Town in the Republic of Palau.
Lipik      -38.42      248.43    56.0         Town in Croatia.
Sarh       -65.1       14.57     54.0         Town in the Republic of Chad.

Blobrana · L

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has approved the name Sungari Vallis for the Martian valley located at 40.35°S, 271.16°W.

Blobrana · L

Crater Saravan

Blobrana · L

Euminedes Dorsum

Blobrana · L

RE: Mars

Blobrana · L

The chemical fingerprints of a long-vanished ocean on Mars may have been found in data from the orbiting Mars Odyssey spacecraft, boosting hopes that the planet could once have supported life.
The evidence comes in the form of trace elements located in and around the Red Planet's vast northern plains, a low-lying region that might once have held a body of water large enough to blanket nearly one-third of the planet.

Read more