Planet Four Talk

Spider on Cube in Hole in Splash.

  • Kitharode by Kitharode moderator

    Latitude 77.2 S and Longitude 324.6 E. Sunlight coming in from top left.

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  • angi60 by angi60 in response to Kitharode's comment.

    Well that's a good description. How weird! That's the strangest thing I've seen on Mars 😛 Well spotted. Maybe it's a Martian version of Sauron's eye! Any ideas on how it formed? If the sun's coming in from top left, then the shadows at the lower edge of the outer 'splash' (or splat) suggest a raised area to me, rather than a depression. But I know it can be deceptive. If it's raised it looks as though it's been formed by lava!

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  • Kitharode by Kitharode moderator

    Best bet for the round hole and the 'splat' (I like that) is a head-on meteor strike I think. Somebody might know meteors enough to confirm or deny this. I don't see it as any sort of volcanic 'burp', but there again we are on Mars.

    The real mystery here, as I'm sure you'll agree, is the cube at the bottom. That really is a puzzle to me. Best I can offer is that maybe the top of the cube used to be the bottom of the crater (if crater it be), but further erosion has eaten into the floor to create what we see now. Not a very strong idea, but that's all I've got at the minute.

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  • wassock by wassock moderator

    Do you have a hirise ref for it? would like to see it in a different season

    Edit - found it - the RGB version looks quite different http://hirise-pds.lpl.arizona.edu/PDS/EXTRAS/RDR/PSP/ORB_005800_005899/PSP_005807_1025/PSP_005807_1025_RGB.NOMAP.browse.jpg

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  • angi60 by angi60 in response to Kitharode's comment.

    Kitharode : Ah well, my theory bites the dust then - haha. Yes the cube is strange and certainly worthy of investigation.

    Wassock : I don't see much difference except one of the images is inverted I think. I notice you can see blue colouring around the 'cube' on the RGB image though.

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  • Kitharode by Kitharode moderator

    Quick edit job on the HiRise image. (Well found wassock)! Inverted so sunlight same in both images - from top left.

    It's still very much a mystery to me.

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  • CJ-DPI by CJ-DPI scientist

    It is a combination of the way the shadows are falling and the way material has slumped to the floor from the walls of the crater that make it look cubic. Very cool though to see that spider in the middle!

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  • Kitharode by Kitharode moderator

    Here's another one. This dendritic is hiding inside an icy impact crater. The link will take you to the HiRise description of the crater, then follow a JPEG Greyscale link and zoom in for a nice view. http://www.uahirise.org/ESP_014436_0920 Enjoy 😉

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  • p.titchin by p.titchin in response to Kitharode's comment.

    Thanks Kith, glad its not in colour! Looks like my eyeball after a navy dinner!

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