Image of the Day: NASA Captures a Tornado on Mars

 

          


NASA's HiRISE captured a twisting column of dust more than half a mile (800 meters) high and about 30 meters in diameter on Feb. 16, 2012, while the orbiter passed over the Amazonis Planitia region of northern Mars. The paths of previous whirlwinds, or dust devils, are visible as streaks on the dusty surface taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been examining Mars with six science instruments since 2006. Now in an extended mission, the orbiter continues to provide insights into the planet’s ancient environments and how processes such as wind, meteorite impacts and seasonal frosts continue to affect the Martian surface today. This mission has returned more data about Mars than all other orbital and surface missions combined.More than 21,700 images taken by HiRISE are available for viewing on the instrument team’s website: http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu .  Each observation by this telescopic camera covers several square miles, or square kilometers, and can reveal features as small as a desk.

The Daily Galaxy via nasa.gov and mwvastronomy.net

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Comments

[Joey Deeson]

Looks like a very violent place mars. I'd like to chill there.
Done-Anon.tk

[ET Gamer]

this photoshop image is not very convincing

[NASA Inspires]

Was the twister a threat to National Security?

Set the twister free!

[E "Eddy" Edwards]

Zut! The Martians have a new Pope!

[maynard]

Electrically generated plasma has the same shape as a tornado. The wire on my ozone generators has a blue plasma circling around it.If I put a coil around a neon tube with a tornado shaped plasma discharge inside, small ball plasmas will appear and spin around the inside of the tube.

[Nixter]

These "dust devil", markings have been imaged before, at least the visible trails left behind, not the actual twister. Notice the much darker earth uncovered, it leaves a high contrast marking. Percival Lowell in the 1800's thought that he saw similar, but much larger patterns on the surface of mars, so big that he called them canals.

With this new information, it is possible that on rare occasions that something akin to a hurricane may occur, and that these are what Lowell saw and called canals.

[robert wolford]

It is not a tornado, only a dust devil.

[chaussures nike shox]

Le high-tech maintenant être en mesure de détecter un certain nombre de conditions sur Mars, l'idée dans les années '50 et '60, je crains que nous aimerions ne pas avoir pensé. Cela montre que la technologie est sans cesse au développement avec le remplacement de l'âge, nous a apporté de nombreux endroit commode. , Mais aussi la pensée des gens est plus avancée, et le courage de dépasser nos prédécesseurs ne pouvaient pas atteindre le royaume. . . .