Post by WeAreAllOne on Feb 11, 2017 9:18:05 GMT -8
A mystery is brewing on Mars: Amateur astronomers spotted enormous plumes erupting off the Red Planet's surface, leaving scientists puzzled.
More than 155 miles (250 kilometers) high and hundreds of miles across, the baffling plumes were spotted by amateur astronomers in the spring of 2012. The plumes reflect sunlight, which means they could be made of water ice, carbon dioxide ice or dust. But clouds made of those materials would be hard to explain with current models of the Martian atmosphere, scientists say.
Images of Mars from the last 20 years reveal that shorter plumes, reaching heights of about 62 miles (100 km), occasionally flare up from the planet's surface. An image by the Hubble Space Telescope from 1997 revealed another abnormally high plume, similar to the one seen in 2012, according to a statement from the European Space Agency (ESA). [7 Biggest Mysteries On Mars]
Scientists at the Universidad del Pais Vasco in Spain studied the images of the plumes and confirmed that they reach heights of more than 155 miles (250 km) above the surface, and cover an area of up to 310 by 620 miles (500 by 1,000 km).
Caption: An image captured by amateur astronomer W. Jaeschke in 2012 revealed a mysterious plumelike feature (marked with yellow arrow) at the limb of the Red Planet. The image is shown with the North Pole toward the bottom and the South Pole to the top.
Credit: W. Jaeschke
Credit: W. Jaeschke
Source:
www.space.com/28573-mystery-plumes-on-mars.html
