Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
Mars has the strange quality of being both mysterious and beautiful at the same time. The focus of our civilization’s dreams and exploration efforts for as long as we can remember, the neighboring planet keeps surprising us every time the University of Arizona or NASA decide to release new images of it.
The two organizations operate together an orbital camera called HiRISE, which has been snapping pics of the place for years now. And it captured on film tens of thousands of small portions of the planet, which keep delighting our senses.
This Sunday, we’re treated to a beautiful piece of alien art. Scientist call this feathery-looking apparition a slope streak, and it forms “by the displacement of material, perhaps from a falling rock or bolder, that exposes the darker subsurface to the harsh Martian sunlight.”
This one is located on the rim of an unnamed “small and ancient impact crater,” itself located on the side of another, larger crater in the Arabia Terra region of the planet.
For what it’s worth, we were lucky to capture this feature in such a pronounced state, as these things have a tendency to fade over time, as the winds blowing on the surface of the planet chew away at them until they disappear.
It’s unclear when this feature formed, but I personally like to imagine it being the logo of some Martian company, sculpted as a means to advertise its products on the side of a natural feature, back in the day when there were enough Martians around to buy stuff from one another.
On the other hand, the shape of the streaks could remind one of existing company logos here on Earth, and I dare you to find the closest match possible. The best I could do was to pair the Martian feature (and it’s a stretch) with the symbol for Riot Games’ Valorant 5v5 character-based tactical FPS.
This Sunday, we’re treated to a beautiful piece of alien art. Scientist call this feathery-looking apparition a slope streak, and it forms “by the displacement of material, perhaps from a falling rock or bolder, that exposes the darker subsurface to the harsh Martian sunlight.”
This one is located on the rim of an unnamed “small and ancient impact crater,” itself located on the side of another, larger crater in the Arabia Terra region of the planet.
For what it’s worth, we were lucky to capture this feature in such a pronounced state, as these things have a tendency to fade over time, as the winds blowing on the surface of the planet chew away at them until they disappear.
It’s unclear when this feature formed, but I personally like to imagine it being the logo of some Martian company, sculpted as a means to advertise its products on the side of a natural feature, back in the day when there were enough Martians around to buy stuff from one another.
On the other hand, the shape of the streaks could remind one of existing company logos here on Earth, and I dare you to find the closest match possible. The best I could do was to pair the Martian feature (and it’s a stretch) with the symbol for Riot Games’ Valorant 5v5 character-based tactical FPS.
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