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Crooked Alien Smiley Face Is a Real Feature on Mars, NASA Has Another Weird Name For It

Some (as in the people responsible for the main image of this text coming to light) say what is shown here looks like a “deranged happy face.” To others, it may look like the image of a living cell under a very powerful microscope. But the thing is, in fact, a real feature on an alien world, one of many of its kind present in a region of the planet.
Swiss cheese feature on Mars 7 photos
Photo: NASA/JPL/UArizona
Swiss cheese feature on MarsPlanum Australe region of MarsPlanum Australe region of MarsPlanum Australe region of MarsPlanum Australe region of MarsPlanum Australe region of Mars
That region would be the Martian South Pole, home to a kind of terrain that looks like Swiss cheese (we’ve seen its kind before). That would be a pattern on the surface created “when there is relatively high, smooth material that is broken up into these circular-shaped depressions.” The most common cause of the break-up is sublimation, which is when solid substances such as ice turn directly to gas on account of various reasons.

The image we have here, taken by the HiRISE camera back in 2010 from an altitude of 248 km (154 miles), and posted online on the first day of this year, shows one of the many pits that make up the Swiss cheese terrain.

As per the scientists over at NASA and the University of Arizona, who try to make sense of these images, this particular feature, like most others of its kind, is changing shape – compared to another image of the same place, taken in 2007, the pit seems larger now, pointing to parts of Mars still being active in one way or another, especially when it comes to climate change

The alteration in shape does not mean a change in the overall composition of the place. As per HiRISE operators, “we now suspect that the carbon dioxide that sublimates […] from the pit walls recondenses on the nearby surfaces, so there is no net change in the carbon dioxide.”
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Editor's note: Gallery shows Planum Australe region of Mars.

About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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