• DMCA
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Contact us
Inter Space Sky Way
  • Home
  • Alien
  • UFO
  • Space
  • NASA
  • Space Flight
  • Astronomy
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Alien
  • UFO
  • Space
  • NASA
  • Space Flight
  • Astronomy
No Result
View All Result
Inter Space Sky Way
No Result
View All Result
Home Space

Cryptic Mars, a land formed by ice

October 9, 2024
in Space
57 5
0
Cryptic Mars, a land formed by ice
74
SHARES
1.2k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


You might also like

Uncovering the chemistry of interstellar house

Northern lights might be seen because of geomagnetic storm : NPR

Predator: Badlands: Launch date, plot, trailers & every little thing we find out about Predator’s silver display return

Science & Exploration

09/10/2024
760 views
26 likes

ESA’s Mars Categorical has captured an astonishing array of landforms rising from a thick winter blanket of frost as spring arrives within the south polar area of Mars. A few of these options are surprisingly darkish in contrast with their icy environment, incomes their nickname of ‘cryptic terrain’.

A broader view of Australe Scopuli

The seasonal polar caps of Mars are primarily composed of carbon dioxide ice with some water ice. The ice partially sublimates (turns immediately from strong ice into vapour) in spring, releasing massive quantities of gasoline into Mars’ skinny environment. In autumn, the vapour condenses once more, and the polar caps develop. By late winter they could even attain so far as 55 levels latitude – roughly the equal of Scotland and Denmark’s southern reaches if translated to the northern hemisphere of Earth.

This freeze-thaw cycle provides rise to quite a lot of curious floor options, lots of that are captured in these photos of the Australe Scopuli area near the south pole of Mars. The photographs had been taken by the Excessive Decision Stereo Digicam (HRSC) onboard Mars Categorical on 2 April 2024 throughout southern hemisphere spring.

Story continues beneath gallery

The left facet of the principle picture is dominated by a thick stack of uncovered layered deposits, fashioned as layers of ice freeze with various quantities of mud trapped inside. The appropriate facet of the principle picture exhibits the graceful floor of those polar layered deposits. 

Darkish-toned terrain dominates the centre of the scene. Initially nicknamed cryptic terrain as a result of it was unclear why these rising options are a lot darker than the remainder of the ice cap, researchers now have a greater thought as to the processes at play on this dynamic area.

Periglacial patterns

Zooming into the darkish area within the main image reveals that the surface is covered with a pattern of polygon shapes at a range of scales. Each polygon is bounded by troughs or ridges, and sometimes the troughs trap bright frost.

ExoMars TGO view of frost-fringed polygons

For a closer look at polygonal terrain we can turn to higher resolution imagery provided by ESA’s Trace Gas Orbiter. Although the example shown here (above) is from a different area in Mars’ southern latitudes, it beautifully illustrates the occurrence of lingering ice at the polygon edges in and around an impact crater, on a cold springtime morning.

On Earth, this pattern is a common periglacial feature in arctic and antarctic regions that usually indicates the presence of water ice in the ground. ‘Periglacial’ refers to regions and processes where cold climate contributes to the evolution of landforms and landscapes. The polygons form from freeze-thaw cycles of ground ice over the course of several years, or even centuries. Studying these kinds of patterns on Mars can help researchers decipher the climate history of the planet.

Periglacial landforms in perspective (1)

Jets and fans

In many locations throughout the image, bright and dark fan-shaped deposits can be seen. They range from tens of metres to several hundreds of metres and are oriented in the direction of prevailing winds. 

When sunlight penetrates through the translucent carbon dioxide ice layer in early spring it warms up the underlying surface. The ice at the bottom of the layer begins to sublimate, creating pockets of trapped gas. The pressure builds up and the overlying ice suddenly cracks. Jets of gas burst through the surface, carrying dark dust from below. The dust falls back to the surface in a pattern shaped by the direction of the prevailing wind.

The process is similar to that which creates the ‘spider’ features presented in another recent Mars Express image release.

Periglacial landforms in perspective (2)

After the dark material has settled on top of the ice, a second phase kicks in as the ice and new layer of dust interact.

The dark material absorbs more sunlight than the brighter, reflective ice and so it warms up the ice it fell on top of and the dark grains gradually sink through the ice. At the same time, this accelerates the process of sublimation, creating a hole. Either fresh ice is revealed underneath, or new frost may then condense on top of the sinking dark grains, resulting in a bright fan at the place of the initially dark fan.

This process is only observed in spring. Once the seasonal translucent ice layer has completely sublimated, the fans become indistinguishable from the underlying surface.

Periglacial landforms in perspective (3)

Exploring Mars

It is thanks to the longevity of missions like Mars Express, which arrived in orbit around the Red Planet in 2003, that seasonal changes can be observed over many years and once-cryptic features can be better understood.

As well as studying the ice caps of the planet the HRSC has shown us the full range of Mars’ geological features, from wind-sculpted ridges and grooves to sinkholes on the flanks of colossal volcanoes to impact craters, tectonic faults, river channels and ancient lava pools. 

With its suite of eight instruments Mars Express also maps the planet’s minerals, explores the composition and circulation of its atmosphere, probes beneath its crust, and studies the martian environment.

The mission has been immensely productive over its lifetime, creating a far fuller and more accurate understanding of our planetary neighbour than ever before.

The Mars Express High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) was developed and is operated by the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR).

Thank you for liking

You have already liked this page, you can only like it once!



Source link

Tags: CrypticIceLandMarsShaped
Share30Tweet19

Recommended For You

Uncovering the chemistry of interstellar house

by Chato80
June 2, 2025
0
Uncovering the chemistry of interstellar house

Credit score: CC0 Public Area Many individuals think about the house between the celebs as an empty, chilly infinity. In actuality, it's teeming with extraordinary molecules: Greater than...

Read more

Northern lights might be seen because of geomagnetic storm : NPR

by Chato80
June 2, 2025
0
Northern lights might be seen because of geomagnetic storm : NPR

The northern lights illuminate the night time sky in Grand Bend, Ontario, Canada, throughout a geomagnetic storm on Could 12, 2024. Geoff Robins/AFP through Getty Photographs conceal caption...

Read more

Predator: Badlands: Launch date, plot, trailers & every little thing we find out about Predator’s silver display return

by Chato80
June 1, 2025
0
Predator: Badlands: Launch date, plot, trailers & every little thing we find out about Predator’s silver display return

The Predator film collection has had its ups and downs, with 2018's Shane Black-directed fourquel nearly icing the franchise for the foreseeable future. Fortunately, Prey (2022) introduced the...

Read more

Discovering a Higher Technique to Distinguish Life from Non-Life

by Chato80
June 2, 2025
0
Discovering a Higher Technique to Distinguish Life from Non-Life

The seek for life on different worlds wants a strategy to sift by way of the chemistry of their atmospheres. If one other species noticed Earth to seek...

Read more

Elon Musk guarantees extra dangerous launches after sixth Starship failure

by Chato80
June 1, 2025
0
Elon Musk guarantees extra dangerous launches after sixth Starship failure

Credit score: Unsplash/CC0 Public Area What goes up should come down, and earlier this week one more of SpaceX's Starships, the most important and strongest kind of rocket...

Read more
Next Post
These house tech spinoffs are serving to scientists struggle local weather change

These house tech spinoffs are serving to scientists struggle local weather change

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Browse by Category

  • Alien
  • Astronomy
  • NASA
  • Space
  • Space Flight
  • UFO

Recent News

Uncovering the chemistry of interstellar house

Uncovering the chemistry of interstellar house

June 2, 2025
Northern lights might be seen because of geomagnetic storm : NPR

Northern lights might be seen because of geomagnetic storm : NPR

June 2, 2025
How Dragonfly will help the seek for life on an uninhabitable world

How Dragonfly will help the seek for life on an uninhabitable world

June 2, 2025
Loopy Proof Of UAP Orbs Harnessing The Suns Vitality And Coursing The G4 Photo voltaic Flare

Loopy Proof Of UAP Orbs Harnessing The Suns Vitality And Coursing The G4 Photo voltaic Flare

June 2, 2025
Predator: Badlands: Launch date, plot, trailers & every little thing we find out about Predator’s silver display return

Predator: Badlands: Launch date, plot, trailers & every little thing we find out about Predator’s silver display return

June 1, 2025
The Antonio Villas Boas Abduction – Brazil’s First Alien Encounter (1957)

The Antonio Villas Boas Abduction – Brazil’s First Alien Encounter (1957)

June 1, 2025
  • DMCA
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Contact us
INTER SPACE SKY WAY

Copyright © 2023 Inter Space Sky Way.
Inter Space Sky Way is not responsible for the content of external sites.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Alien
  • UFO
  • Space
  • NASA
  • Space Flight
  • Astronomy

Copyright © 2023 Inter Space Sky Way.
Inter Space Sky Way is not responsible for the content of external sites.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In