Scientists Baffled by 'Bootprint' on Mars

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/08/30/scientists-baffled-bootprint-mars/?test=latestnews ^

[Red in Blue PA]

New images of an ancient crater on Mars look just like a bootprint -- and the high res pics have failed to solve the age-old mystery for planetary scientists.

If anything, the high-resolution images of the "Footprint Crater" -- otherwise known as Orcus Patera -- have puzzled Mars-watchers even further as to how the Red Planet was originally scarred with the 240-mile-long depression.

The picture was taken by the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter and released by the ESA late last week.

It sits between two volcanoes, and while the name "patera" is traditionally given to irregularly shaped volcanic craters, scientists know at least enough about the Orcus Patera to know it wasn't formed by a volcano.

The most likely explanation is that it's an impact crater, although given the length of the scar, it would have to have been formed by something striking the surface of Mars at an angle of less than five degrees, possibly bouncing back off the surface.

[Red in Blue PA]

[ClearCase_guy]

[stevie_d_64]

Maybe Shiela Jackson Lee was right...Maybe those technicians at JPL should have had the “rover” track over to where the astronauts planted the American flag a few years ago...

Mystery solved!!! /sarc

[caver]

“The most likely explanation is that it’s an impact crater”

Well, duh! These piled higher and dryer scientists need to engage that thing between their ears. What else would the “crater” be?

[MichaelP]

You can see ejecta trails along the sides. The meteor must have struck from top to bottom at a low angle...

Mike

[RatsDawg]

Maybe it was a giant Monolith, Space Odyssey 2001 style!

[2harddrive]

Right! A glancing blow. Mars was just “winged” by a meteoric rifle shot.

[agere_contra]

Dumb headline. They’re not baffled.

[COBOL2Java]

[AnglePark]

Looks to me like it was a string of meteorites, or a broken comet. Multiple impacts, one after another.

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

Heck of a glancing blow. As the crater is 240 miles long, the meteor must have been a monster.

[catman67]

[SAMWolf]

[Williams]

Mars is a scary little example of what can happen here.

[muir_redwoods]

It's a grazing impact crater. This is undoubtedly not confusing to planetary scientists but makes good copy for a reporter to write about

[Islander7]

It's a grazing impact crater. This is undoubtedly not confusing to planetary scientists but makes good copy for a reporter to write about

Somewhere in a NASA lab, in parts unknown, a group of planetary scientists are laughing their butts off at the line of BS this 'journOlista' swallowed.

[ballplayer]

Maybe NASA should take a Trip to the Grand Canyon

[caver]

Yea, there are some real geniuses at work.

[Never on my watch]

Obviously, further government funding is needed to resolve this mystery.

I'm sure all they would need to do is go the National Endowment for Baffled Scientists and Perverted Artists and a billion dollar check would be cut in minutes.

[Lee'sGhost]

Uh....a volcanic crater. Not to be rude but, you might want to take your own advice.