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Explanation: It was late in the northern martian spring when the HiRISE camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spied this local denizen. Tracking across the flat, dust-covered Amazonis Planitia in 2012, the core of this whirling dust devil is about 140 meters in diameter. Lofting dust into the thin martian atmosphere, its plume reaches about 20 kilometers above the surface. Common to this region of Mars, dust devils occur as the surface is heated by the Sun, generating warm, rising air currents that begin to rotate. Tangential wind speeds of up to 110 kilometers per hour are reported for dust...

Click on link for video of impressive dust devil!!

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 December 30 A Dust Devil Crater on Mars Credit: Malin Space Science Systems, MGS, JPL, NASA Explanation: What caused the streaks in this Martian crater? Since the above image shows streaks occurring both inside and outside the crater, they were surely created after the crater-causing impact. Newly formed trails like these presented researchers with a tantalizing martian mystery but have now been identified as likely the work...

<p>LEBANON, Maine — A freak burst of wind on a clear day apparently caused an auto body shop to collapse, killing the owner, officials said.</p> <p>Monday's collapse was initially thought to be caused by an explosion, but a witness reported seeing a windstorm lift the roof off Vintage Auto Body, causing much of the two-story building to collapse, said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Public Safety Department.</p>

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 September 3 A Dust Devil on Mars Credit: Malin Space Science Systems, MGS, JPL, NASA Explanation: Does the surface of Mars change? When inspecting yearly images of the Martian surface taken by the robot spacecraft Mars Global Surveyor currently orbiting Mars, sometimes new dark trails are visible. Although originally a mystery, the culprit is now usually known to be a dust devil, a huge swirling gas-cloud with...