A Closer Look at Mars Planet Images
Mars is one of the most interesting planets in our solar system. It has been studied for centuries and is still a hot topic amongst scientists.
The planet’s surface regularly experiences dust devils – well-formed and strong whirlwinds that whip up dirt on the surface. This image shows long dark trails where these whirlwinds have passed.
Saheki Crater
This image from NASA’s Mars orbiter shows Saheki Crater, a large crater located in the southern hemisphere of the Red Planet. The crater is famous for its unusual eye-shaped feature that’s thought to be caused by impacts with space rocks billions of years ago.
It’s one of the many giant craters on Mars that have formed over time as a result of space rock impacts. Scientists like to study this region of craters as impacts can unearth material deep within the planet that may not be visible elsewhere.
The area is also a good place to look for signs of water on Mars. This is because Mars is regularly subjected to dust devils, well-formed and strong whirlwinds of varying size that whip up dirt on the surface.
As a result, the surface of Mars is constantly being bombarded with dust and debris that causes the surface to look strange. This is one of the many mysteries surrounding this mysterious world.
Another fascinating area of Mars is known as the brain terrain, which contains ridges and troughs that are believed to be caused by water sublimating from the surface. The landscape looks a lot like the human brain and is one of the most unsolved mysteries of the Red Planet.
Another interesting area of Mars is the Tithonium Chasma, which is part of the massive Valles Marineris canyon. The canyon stretches over 600 kilometers across and is the largest in the Solar System.
Bedrock
Bedrock is the layer of solid rock found beneath surface soil in geology. It is made up of igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. It is one of the seven layers that make up the Earth’s crust and can be found in many parts of the planet.
The term “bedrock” is derived from the Greek word bedros, meaning “hard”. It’s a dense rock created by various processes such as when loose sediments come under pressure (lithified), magma cools and hardens or other rocks change form.
Geologists can use a variety of techniques, such as geophysical methods, to investigate bedrock in an area. The top of the rock that would be exposed if all soil or other superficial deposits were removed is called the rockhead and this can be found using geological mapping and excavations.
Depending on the type of rock, it could be very hard or very easy to break. Shales with a low silica content are easy to break while limestones and sandstones can be very hard.
Bedrock is used for a variety of purposes in Minecraft, such as creating a base, constructing a home and farming plants. It can also be used as a spawn-jail in Survival mode since it is difficult to break without the right tool.
Dunes
A sea of dark dunes, sculpted by wind into long lines that surround Mars’ northern polar cap. The false-color image, taken by the Thermal Emission Imaging System (TEIS) on the Mars Odyssey orbiter, depicts an area as big as Texas.
On Earth and other planets, sand dunes form from the same mechanism as ripples on beaches and deserts: winds blow individual sand grains into mounds that can vary in size. Some form dunes that extend for miles, while others grow into sandstones, forming a type of rock.
Sand dune shapes depend on sand supply and the direction of wind. For example, barchan dunes form under winds that blow consistently from one direction, while star dunes appear wherever winds blow from several directions about equally.
When sand supplies increase, star dunes may merge into ridges, or the crest of a barchan dune might become a “horn” and grow longer as it becomes a transverse dune.
Even though the process of dune formation is common across all environments, the exact mechanism is a fundamental physics problem that planetary scientists haven’t solved yet. Researchers are working to solve the mystery and understand the underlying processes that shape the planets of our solar system.
Ice
In the winter, it can be cold enough on Mars for snow to fall. It falls in the planet’s frigid regions shaded by clouds, at its poles and beneath the cover of nighttime clouds. Neither orbiters nor robotic explorers can see this falling snow because the flakes are frozen before they reach the ground.
Another kind of ice on the Red Planet is carbon dioxide-based, or dry ice. That can also land on the surface, although it doesn’t accumulate.
The European Space Agency’s Mars Express recently released a stunning image of a large crater in the northern polar region on the planet, which has been filled with ice all year round. The feature, called Korolev crater, is 81.4 kilometres (50 miles) wide and contains around 530 cubic kilometres of water ice.
This crater’s icy mass is trapped by the air layer that forms above it, which keeps it from melting away. The same process is at play in the nearby 36-kilometre (22.4-mile) Louth crater, too.
As winter continues on the planet, ice will continue to form and break up, and some of it will turn into gas that creates unique shapes on the surface. These formations have resembled Swiss cheese, Dalmatian spots, fried eggs and spiders, among other things.
Dust Devils
Dust Devils are mini-tornadoes of dust that occur when the Sun heats the surface of Mars. They stir up sand particles that might otherwise fall to the ground below and damage rover hardware.
Scientists hope to learn as much as possible about these phenomena, as they can cause the solar panels on the rovers to stop producing energy and eventually die out completely. Understanding their causes will help us understand Mars’ environment better and prepare for future missions, including human trips to the planet.
The microphone on Perseverance’s mast, part of the SuperCam, picked up the sound of the dust devil as it passed overhead. The sounds matched the images of the whirling tower of dust, which is about 82 feet (25 meters) wide and 387 feet (118 meters) tall.
Another rover instrument, the MEDA environmental station, measured a drop in air pressure as the devil moved past. That data helped scientists determine the devil’s size and speed, and figured out how fast it was moving.
These results suggest that dust devils are a natural consequence of the warm, boundary layer air on Mars that rises and stirs up dust from the surface. They are likely formed when a crater becomes a place for turbulence to build, which creates a whirling flow structure.
The new study, published in Nature Communications, shows that dust devils can act like vacuum cleaners for the Martian surface. This has been especially true on the planet’s largest craters, which are covered in layers of dust that can destroy rover hardware and instruments.
Brain Terrain
One of the weirdest things to appear on Mars is what’s known as “brain terrain.” It looks a lot like the ridges and troughs found in the human brain.
It’s thought that this strange textured terrain is caused by water that has sublimated. It weakens the planet’s surface and makes it look rippled.
However, it’s not clear how exactly this process happens. ESA’s website states that this type of terrain is most often found on the northern plains and southern highlands of Mars.
The European Space Agency (ESA) orbiter has just released a stunning new set of images of a region of the planet known as Utopia Planitia. The image shows a series of impact craters that sit in a huge basin containing ice both on the surface and beneath it.
To the left of this picture is a crater that contains a unique texture called “brain terrain,” named for its similarity to the ridges in the human brain. It’s a feature that occurs in lobate debris aprons, lineated valley fill, and concentric crater fill.
It’s a type of complex ridge that can be either wide or narrow. The ridges are created when the center of a thicker unit collapses to form smaller, thinner ones. This can happen when a core of ice is melted or turned to gas.