Posted on 11/23/2009 5:28:32 PM PST by KevinDavis
Scientists from Northern Illinois University and Nasa's Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston found dozens of valleys, shown in red, after using new software to analyse images of the surface and create the most accurate map to date. The valleys, first spotted in 1971, were caused by a network of rivers more than twice as extensive as previously mapped, pictured right. The new map shows water channels in a belt between the equator and mid-southern latitudes. Experts say this is consistent with heavy rain, and the presence of an ocean covering most of Mars's northern half.
"It would also explain why the valleys become shallower from north to south," said professor Wei Luo. The valley networks show some similarities to river systems on earth, the experts believe.
Maybe the Old Testament was poorly translated. Maybe Mars belongs to the Jews!
One of the Mar Rovers imaged what looked like a fossilized sea anemone on a rock's surface, then to discover the rock composition, ground the image off...
I had this on my blog at one point, but the post was lost some years back while changing ISPs.
Y’know, I thought it all looked familiar... ;’)
Is it possible that Mars was just like Earth at some time in the past? Could it have an an orbit similar to ours, and over the years drifted away(or forcibly driven away), too far from the Sun to sustain life/atmosphere/water? If the Earth drifted as from the Sun, I could imagine that it would evolve into a planet similar to how Mars is right now after a long period of time.Not a chance. Mars has about 1/8th the mass of the Earth; what passes for an atmosphere on Mars has, at the surface, the same pressure as the Earth's at 40 *miles* altitude. Evidence of water is mixed -- there's water present under the surface, but no sign there were ever open seas (not surprising given the tenuous atmosphere). IMHO, all evidence for erosional events found to date conform to an impact model -- a chunka rock drops in; the energy released by the impact melts water under the surface; it goes from ice directly to vapor in the low pressure environment, in the process producing a temporary microclimate inside an all-vapor atmosphere; until it dissipates, the rest of the water is able to flow in liquid form. This explains the from-nowhere-to-nowhere erosional features and nothing else does. :')
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