New Mars Forums

Rxke

Member

From: Belgium

Registered: 2003-11-03

Posts: 3,669

Re: A lake on Mars? - What is this 'blob'?

http://mainlymartian.blogs.com/semijour … nlymartian

Not sure this has been discussed before, the first link in the story goes to a picture of a crater with a very intriguing dark 'blob' in it...

It is currently under research, but officially no-one really believes it is a lake...

Very interesting article overall.

Shaun Barrett

Member

From: Cairns, Queensland, Australia

Registered: 2001-12-28

Posts: 2,843

Re: A lake on Mars? - What is this 'blob'?

Interesting link. Thanks, Rik!
    I know we have to avoid making premature judgments about surface features on an alien planet but, if you saw something like this on Earth, you would almost certainly declare that you were looking at some kind of liquid.
    That's definitely the impression I'm getting, though what kind of dark liquid it could be is a mystery to me.
    Anybody have any suggestions regarding  concentrated brine contaminated with substances which would make it dark in colour?
                                              ???

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The word 'aerobics' came about when the gym instructors got together and said: If we're going to charge $10 an hour, we can't call it Jumping Up and Down.   - Rita Rudner

rgcarnes

Banned

From: In the country near Rolla Miss

Registered: 2002-02-04

Posts: 111

Re: A lake on Mars? - What is this 'blob'?

Shaun,

The liquid itself does not have to be dark.  At the viewing angles it's being observed at, the liquid could be completely transparent and the Mars surface/liquid interface could be dark. 

Also, the darkness characteristics seem to be spectrally dependent, with the red/IR views showing them most and the shorter visible/UV views showing it least, hardly at all. This hints at the presence of some pigment (bio or otherwise).

Images that should be taken to try to determine if a surface is as flat as a lake would include viewing angles for which one would expect sun glints from the flat surface.

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Rex G. Carnes

If the Meek Inherit the Earth, Where Do All the Bold Go?

Shaun Barrett

Member

From: Cairns, Queensland, Australia

Registered: 2001-12-28

Posts: 2,843

Re: A lake on Mars? - What is this 'blob'?

Yes, Rex.
    All good points, which I understand form part of your hypothesis about standing bodies of water on Mars today.
    Some of the close-ups of surface features taken by Opportunity do no harm to your ideas at all; in fact, they lend considerable credence to them in my opinion. It appears from the Opportunity photos that a water table ('brine table') could possibly be surprisingly close to the surface in some areas. And this, in turn, fits nicely with the data returned by Odyssey, which indicated varying amounts of water in the top 1 metre of martian soil - as much as 50% in some places (though generally less in equatorial regions, I admit).

    It's definitely fine food for thought and I wouldn't be at all surprised if at least transient bodies of briny water on the martian surface are confirmed in the near future.
                                                   

[And, for the record, I think the methane discovered in the martian air will confirm the existence of bacteria on Mars in the not-too-distant future, too.]

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The word 'aerobics' came about when the gym instructors got together and said: If we're going to charge $10 an hour, we can't call it Jumping Up and Down.   - Rita Rudner

Rxke

Member

From: Belgium

Registered: 2003-11-03

Posts: 3,669

Re: A lake on Mars? - What is this 'blob'?

Hmmm... The article got an update, and some comments: Their conclusion: it is more probably a dune-field, rather than a flat surface...

Shaun Barrett

Member

From: Cairns, Queensland, Australia

Registered: 2001-12-28

Posts: 2,843

Re: A lake on Mars? - What is this 'blob'?

Spoilsport.

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The word 'aerobics' came about when the gym instructors got together and said: If we're going to charge $10 an hour, we can't call it Jumping Up and Down.   - Rita Rudner

Rxke

Member

From: Belgium

Registered: 2003-11-03

Posts: 3,669

Re: A lake on Mars? - What is this 'blob'?

Spoilsport? ? ?

But...but certainly, when there are dunes, there *must* be giant sandworms!

And... Spice!!! 

(Frank Herbert fan, here...)