Latest Posts
Gullies and fractures in a crater in the Acidalia Planitia plain
Beautiful photo taken by HiRISE of an anonymous crater in the northern sub-tropical belt of Mars during late summer.Take a good look at the morphology of the crater floor, certainly shaped by collapsed and/or leaked material from the top of the inner wall…. This post has been automatically translated. See the original post here.
Dust storm on Mars: where are we?
Using official data from the REMS weather station on board Curiosity (see http://cab.inta-csic.es/rems/marsweather.html), I drew this graph that shows us the trend of temperatures before and during the dust storm raging on Mars.The colors of the curves shown here are divided into groups blue (minimum), green (medium) and red (maximum), where the darker shade represents the ground temperature and the lighter one the air temperature.As can be seen, upon the arrival of the dust storm (Sol 2080) the maximum temperatures dropped by almost 30°C within four days, while the minimum temperatures rose by about 20°C.Also from the graph, one can see the negative peak of Sol 2100 which probably represents the peak of the storm itself.Starting from Sol 2101 a slow rise in maximum temperatures begins, as well as a slow descent of minimum temperatures, indicating a slow but gradual improvement of the transparency of the atmosphere.Starting from Sol 2140 the maximum ground temperature began to reach and exceed 0°C, but it will probably take another month before reaching the pre-storm conditions where even +18°C were reached.Another interesting detail to note is the pattern of minimum air and ground temperatures; before the storm the ground cooled between 10 and 15°C more than the air, while during the storm the minimum temperatures often coincide or even the air cools more than the ground!This detail could indicate some sort of “alteration” of the soil on which I will provide more details later. HD graph: https://image.ibb.co/etG7Cz/Curiosity_Temperatura_Combi_T_Sol2068_2147_Nt01.jpg This post has been automatically translated. See the original post here.
Dunes near Ulyxis Rupes
New photo taken by the CaSSIS camera on board the Russian-European probe TGO!See it in detail…. This post has been automatically translated. See the original post here.
Mars taken on August 17, 2018 by Tom Harradine
A sequence of photos taken between 9:18 and 14:37 GMT, allowed Tom Harradine to realize this Timelapse animation, in which we can observe almost a quarter of the planet’s rotation.As you can see, the dust storm seems almost completely dissolved and details reappear as if nothing had happened! This post has been automatically translated. See the original post here.
Curiosity Sol 2139, Aug. 13, 2018
Both the ChemCam (at 01:39:01 UTC) and the Mastcam Right (at 02:19:47 UTC) have captured this “object” as thin as a sheet of paper, of uncertain size but certainly less than 2-3 centimeters.At the moment I have no news about its nature; it could be “something” blown away by Curiosity itself, as well as a mineral deposit exfoliated and carried by the wind.I am surprised that the “Martian anomaly hunters” have not already spammed it all over the world, given the very curious and unusual appearance; personally I have never seen anything like it on Mars!The image on the left (Mastcam) has been subjected to white balance and a slight increase in contrast, to bring the color rendition to that of the human eye.The right image (ChemCam) has undergone only a slight increase in microcontrast to improve the visibility of smaller details. Processed composite image (HD): https://image.ibb.co/c4a2Lp/Curiosity_Sol2139.jpg Original images: ChemCam Sol 2139 01:39:01 UTC https://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/?rawid=CR0_587394421PRC_F0721316CCAM06138L1&s=2139 Mastcam Right Sol 2139 02:19:47 UTC https://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/?rawid=2139MR0114810000205100E01_DXXX&s=2139 This post has been automatically translated. See the original post here.
Curiosity Sol 2138, Aug. 11, 2018
At 20:13:05 UTC the Mastcam Right photographed the Stoer hole two days after the first shot (see https://www.facebook.com/PianetaMarte.MdM/photos/a.1625578140858706.1073741828.1612043482212172/1823375761078942/). As you can see there are many differences between the first and second photo, probably due to the wind still present!This photo has been processed to allow for a better view of the colors, balancing the white and increasing the color saturation slightly. HD processed image: https://image.ibb.co/imL9wU/Curiosity_Sol2138.jpg Original image: https://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/?rawid=2138MR0114680010205069E01_DXXX&s=2138 Reference article:“Sols 2141-2142: Taking a closer look at the Stoer sample”. https://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/mission/mars-rover-curiosity-mission-updates/?mu=sols-2141-2142-taking-a-closer-look-at-the-stoer-sample This post has been automatically translated. See the original post here.
Curiosity Sol 2136, Aug. 9, 2018
At 21:45:03 UTC the Mastcam Right photographed the last drilling attempt, this time a successful one. Two other previous attempts failed due to the extreme hardness of the rock; in this case the rock named “Stoer” turned out to be sufficiently “soft” to allow adequate drilling to collect samples for mineralogical analysis.This photo has been processed to allow a better view of the colors, balancing the white and slightly increasing the color saturation. HD processed image: https://image.ibb.co/gqsLy9/Curiosity_Sol2136.jpg Original image: https://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/?rawid=2136MR0114540010205034E01_DXXX&s=2136 Reference Article:“Sol 2136-2137: Try, Try, and Try Again”. https://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/mission/mars-rover-curiosity-mission-updates/?mu=sol-2136-2137-try-try-and-try-again This post has been automatically translated. See the original post here.
The secret of Mars’ hot past may be under Curiosity’s wheels
The formation of minerals in the bottom of an ancient lake could have enhanced the greenhouse effect of the Martian atmosphere. Magnetite in particular could release molecular hydrogen during its formation, a gas capable of greatly increasing the greenhouse effect by maintaining a temperature useful for the stable presence of liquid water… This post has been automatically translated. See the original post here.
Mars taken by Massimiliano Veschini on August 2, 2018
You can recognize many areas even if “blurred” by the sandstorm of these months. The photographed area is Arabia Terra, Schiaparelli Crater and Meridiani Planum. The polar caps are clearly identifiable. Best resolution at the link: https://www.astrobin.com/full/360192/E/?nc=user InstrumentationOptics: Meade LX200 EMC 10″Mount: SkyWatcher EQ8 PROCamera: ZWO ASI290MCCelestron X-Cel LX Barlow 3xBaader UV/IR cut filter SoftwareCapture: FireCaptureProcessing Autostakkert!3, RegiStax, WinJupos, Photoshop. – with Aagc Oagc. This post has been automatically translated. See the original post here.
ELON MUSK: “NASA IS WRONG, MARS CAN BE TERRAFORMED”
Elon Musk doesn’t accept defeat and presses on stating that NASA is lying about the amount of CO2 on Mars! Provocative question: Elon Musk is a conspirator? This post has been automatically translated. See the original post here.