Photo: https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_071040_2650
Mars is a never-ending source of incredible images. Those images would not be possible, of course, if the planet did not have amazing features to show off to us, the envious neighbors. Like, say, these croissant-shaped blotches shown here in dark blue.
Likened to croissants by the people over at the University of Arizona, these are in fact sand dunes. They’re a special kind, called barchan, meaning they formed as a result of wind blowing mostly from the same direction over the surface of the planet. They are officially described as crescent-shaped shifting sand dunes, and they’re present here on Earth as well, in places like Central Asia.
The ones seen here come from Mars, and they’re located in the northern polar region of the planet. We’ve seen such features before here on autoevolution, as we keep going through the trove of images sent back over the years by the HiRISE orbital camera.
Although they may seem interesting to our untrained eyes only on account of their strange beauty, to scientists these features are incredible sources of info about the planet and what’s going on over there.
“Our goal is to continue monitoring over several years to look for changes, the rate of changes, as well as the texture of these stunning dunes,” said the people from the University of Arizona about what we’re seeing here.
That may not seem like an over-ambitious goal, and the sand dunes not so interesting as to invest so many resources in them, but one has to take into account the ultimate goal of our species, which would be to expand to the neighboring planet and maybe even set up a colony there.
Considering this, any little thing that can help us learn more about the planet becomes all of a sudden huge in the grand scheme of things.
The ones seen here come from Mars, and they’re located in the northern polar region of the planet. We’ve seen such features before here on autoevolution, as we keep going through the trove of images sent back over the years by the HiRISE orbital camera.
Although they may seem interesting to our untrained eyes only on account of their strange beauty, to scientists these features are incredible sources of info about the planet and what’s going on over there.
“Our goal is to continue monitoring over several years to look for changes, the rate of changes, as well as the texture of these stunning dunes,” said the people from the University of Arizona about what we’re seeing here.
That may not seem like an over-ambitious goal, and the sand dunes not so interesting as to invest so many resources in them, but one has to take into account the ultimate goal of our species, which would be to expand to the neighboring planet and maybe even set up a colony there.
Considering this, any little thing that can help us learn more about the planet becomes all of a sudden huge in the grand scheme of things.
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