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Astronomy Picture of the Day -- A Hole in Mars
NASA ^ | July 18, 2012 | (see photo credit)

Posted on 07/18/2012 3:21:59 AM PDT by SunkenCiv

Explanation: What created this unusual hole in Mars? The hole was discovered by chance on images of the dusty slopes of Mars' Pavonis Mons volcano taken by the HiRISE instrument aboard the robotic Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter currently circling Mars. The hole appears to be an opening to an underground cavern, partly illuminated on the image right. Analysis of this and follow-up images revealed the opening to be about 35 meters across, while the interior shadow angle indicates that the underlying cavern is roughly 20 meters deep. Why there is a circular crater surrounding this hole remains a topic of speculation, as is the full extent of the underlying cavern. Holes such as this are of particular interest because their interior caves are relatively protected from the harsh surface of Mars, making them relatively good candidates to contain Martian life. These pits are therefore prime targets for possible future spacecraft, robots, and even human interplanetary explorers.

July 18, 2012

(Excerpt) Read more at 129.164.179.22 ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: apod; astronomy; mars; martianskylights; pavonismons; science
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[Credit: NASA, JPL, U. Arizona]

1 posted on 07/18/2012 3:22:11 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
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To: SunkenCiv

that’s the white side of Obama’s family passin a bit o wind


2 posted on 07/18/2012 3:24:09 AM PDT by advertising guy (the White House hasn't had this much leakin since Billy Carter watered the Rose Garden)
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To: SunkenCiv

I wonder... is there a hole in Uranus ?


3 posted on 07/18/2012 3:24:43 AM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (If you like lying Socialist dirtbags, you'll love Slick Willard)
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To: SunkenCiv

Lava tube buried in the sand would be my guess. I know similar caves have been spotted elsewhere on mars.

Personally I think canyons and caves are the places we really need to look but its easier to land on open plains.


4 posted on 07/18/2012 3:27:42 AM PDT by cripplecreek (What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?)
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To: SunkenCiv

There’s a hole in the bottom of the sea,
There’s a hole in the bottom of the sea,
There’s a hole, there’s a hole,
There’s a hole in the bottom of the sea.


5 posted on 07/18/2012 3:28:35 AM PDT by LRS ("He's 12 slices shy of a 1/2 loaf of Bunny Bread!")
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To: brytlea; cripplecreek; decimon; bigheadfred; KoRn; Grammy; married21; steelyourfaith; Mmogamer; ...
ASOW: From the Big Bang to the Nobel Prize and the End of the Universe by John C. Mather
I had to look it up -- ASOW is "Astronomy Seminar of the Week".

6 posted on 07/18/2012 3:28:35 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: SunkenCiv
What created this unusual hole in Mars?

It was an accident! I tripped and fell, all right -- ?!?

7 posted on 07/18/2012 3:31:31 AM PDT by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle ("If you're not fiscally AND socially conservative, you're not conservative!" - Jim Robinson, 9-1-10)
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There’s some salty talk on this here thread:

Mars’ Water Appears To Have Been Too Salty To Support Life
Science Daily | 5/30/08
Posted on 05/30/2008 1:35:19 AM PDT by LibWhacker
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2023410/posts


8 posted on 07/18/2012 3:31:45 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: SunkenCiv

They are also good candidates for home bases, if we ever do manned missions.


9 posted on 07/18/2012 3:32:02 AM PDT by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death cults.)
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To: Jonty30

I’d like to cover one and let some heat build up to see what happens.


10 posted on 07/18/2012 3:39:06 AM PDT by cripplecreek (What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?)
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To: cripplecreek

It would be a nice project, but you’d have to oxygenate the hole, otherwise there will be no fire.


11 posted on 07/18/2012 3:40:36 AM PDT by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death cults.)
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To: fieldmarshaldj

12 posted on 07/18/2012 3:43:21 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: SunkenCiv
The near perfect circle and smooth contours suggests a direct hit by a comet traveling at such a high rate of speed it liquefied the ground and caused the “bouncing drop” effect one observes when a water drop falls in water...the final fall of the now partially cooled ball of Martian turf forming the cone while the still hot and gooey inner core collapses back into the depression to make the hole...

...just a guess-and if I am right the interior of the formation would resemble a domed stadium with a skylight--good location for shelter and terraforming.

13 posted on 07/18/2012 3:45:54 AM PDT by Happy Rain ("Obamacare like all Marxist fails, outlaws redress before increasing it's demand.")
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To: Happy Rain
You mean it's not man's fault??
14 posted on 07/18/2012 4:03:07 AM PDT by danielmryan
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To: SunkenCiv

Uranus is a very interesting place. Maybe I’ll get to explore it up close and personal one day.


15 posted on 07/18/2012 4:04:29 AM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (If you like lying Socialist dirtbags, you'll love Slick Willard)
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To: danielmryan
Could be—perhaps Haliburtan developed a time machine star ship that allowed Dick Cheney to travel back to prehistoric Mars in time to divert the comet to smash into a herd of Martian puppies.

To the Left this hypothesis would have legs.

16 posted on 07/18/2012 4:15:28 AM PDT by Happy Rain ("Obamacare like all Marxist fails, outlaws redress before increasing it's demand.")
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To: Happy Rain
Could be—perhaps Haliburtan developed a time machine star ship that allowed Dick Cheney to travel back to prehistoric Mars in time to divert the comet to smash into a herd of Martian puppies.

Well, there's only one solution then: ban time travel ;)

17 posted on 07/18/2012 4:37:14 AM PDT by danielmryan
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To: SunkenCiv
How on Eart...on MARS, did Neil Armstrong miss this last time he was there??

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

On a visit to the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 2005, Jackson Lee made embarrassing news by asking if the Mars Pathfinder had taken an image of the flag planted there in 1969 by Neil Armstrong.[2]

Prior to the 110th Congress, Jackson Lee served on the House Science Committee and on the Subcommittee that oversees space policy and NASA.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheila_Jackson_Lee#Political_career

18 posted on 07/18/2012 4:43:23 AM PDT by ETL (ALL (most?) of the Obama-commie connections at my FR Home page: http://www.freerepublic.com/~etl/)
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To: fieldmarshaldj
Image and video hosting by TinyPic
19 posted on 07/18/2012 4:47:04 AM PDT by ETL (ALL (most?) of the Obama-commie connections at my FR Home page: http://www.freerepublic.com/~etl/)
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To: LRS

There’s a hole in the world tonight
There’s a cloud of fear and sorrow
There’s a hole in the world tonight
Don’t let there be a hole in the world tomorrow

http://www.metrolyrics.com/hole-in-the-world-lyrics-the-eagles.html


20 posted on 07/18/2012 4:49:03 AM PDT by ETL (ALL (most?) of the Obama-commie connections at my FR Home page: http://www.freerepublic.com/~etl/)
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