Mystery cloud-like blobs over Mars baffle astronomers.

[rdunk]

I must be getting old   But then that is why we have a TEAM right?

Very right Z! But, in your case you have just a lot of ground to cover here, and no way for everything to "get covered"! As participation grows, the team-work gets even better! Thanks!

[zorgon]

As participation grows, the team-work gets even better! Thanks!

It comes and goes LOL we start getting a good team... egos flare... people leave  Back to square one

Oh well we do what we can

[Pimander]

I haven't read the whole thread here but I have read on this elsewhere.

Basically one of the reasons for the paper being written is to encourage interest in the area and persuade TPTB to use the orbiters to take a good look at the area.  Unfortunately the "plumes" are no longer visible but it should be worth a look.

[zorgon]

Well let's back up a little  to the Mars Methane

Any of you (other than ArMaP remember the green cloud on Mars?  Let me recap...

This was the NASA original  a clip from the larger panorama   



This was actually the thread at ATS where ArMaP and I came to an agreement on COLOR on Mars

So this was Mike Singh's adjustment


Sent:  8-9-2009 at 04:02 AM

"Here's the true color of that image posted above. Note the greens and blues - moss, lichen, grass....? And what looks like a lake in the distance! By the way, NO coloring whatsoever has been superimposed on this image. Just reducing NASA's horrific amount of saturation!!"

-Mike Singh


Well ArMaP did the work using the color channels and came up with the REAL (as opposed to TRUE) color



The befuddlement was his meaning of TRUE color o we were always on the same page really... end result we agree that the skies on Mars are blue , but the sun is not as bright on Mars due to distance

The full workup on that image is here
http://www.thelivingmoon.com/43ancients/02files/Mars_Images_58_Green_Fog.html

Now the POINT is that shortly after I got the report on methane on Mars from the NASA ftp site...

[zorgon]

So let's have a look...

Martian Methane
Reveals the Red Planet is not a Dead Planet

Here is one of the images from that NASA report. I am starting with this one because ... well... it shows the methane release as GREEN FOG





So that fog in the other image really IS green  and NASA seems to think it is a methane cloud.  So ArMaP's color on Mars is pretty close to real color... as we would see it standing there


Credit: NASA
This image shows concentrations of Methane discovered on Mars.

Martian Methane Reveals the Red Planet is not a Dead Planet
Jan. 15, 2009

Mars today is a world of cold and lonely deserts, apparently without life of any kind, at least on the surface. Worse still, it looks like Mars has been cold and dry for billions of years, with an atmosphere so thin, any liquid water on the surface quickly boils away while the sun's ultraviolet radiation scorches the ground.

But there is evidence of a warmer and wetter past -- features resembling dry riverbeds and minerals that form in the presence of water indicate water once flowed through Martian sands. Since liquid water is required for all known forms of life, scientists wonder if life could have risen on Mars, and if it did, what became of it as the Martian climate changed.

New research reveals there is hope for Mars yet. The first definitive detection of methane in the atmosphere of Mars indicates the planet is still alive, in either a biologic or geologic sense, according to a team of NASA and university scientists.

"Methane is quickly destroyed in the Martian atmosphere in a variety of ways, so our discovery of substantial plumes of methane in the northern hemisphere of Mars in 2003 indicates some ongoing process is releasing the gas," said Dr. Michael Mumma of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "At northern mid-summer, methane is released at a rate comparable to that of the massive hydrocarbon seep at Coal Oil Point in Santa Barbara, Calif."

Methane -- four atoms of hydrogen bound to a carbon atom -- is the main component of natural gas on Earth. It's of interest to astrobiologists because organisms release much of Earth's methane as they digest nutrients. However, other purely geological processes, like oxidation of iron, also release methane. "Right now, we don't have enough information to tell if biology or geology -- or both -- is producing the methane on Mars," said Mumma. "But it does tell us that the planet is still alive, at least in a geologic sense. It's as if Mars is challenging us, saying, hey, find out what this means." Mumma is lead author of a paper on this research appearing in Science Express Jan. 15.

If microscopic Martian life is producing the methane, it likely resides far below the surface, where it's still warm enough for liquid water to exist. Liquid water, as well as energy sources and a supply of carbon, are necessary for all known forms of life.

"On Earth, microorganisms thrive 2 to 3 kilometers (about 1.2 to 1.9 miles) beneath the Witwatersrand basin of South Africa, where natural radioactivity splits water molecules into molecular hydrogen (H2) and oxygen. The organisms use the hydrogen for energy. It might be possible for similar organisms to survive for billions of years below the permafrost layer on Mars, where water is liquid, radiation supplies energy, and carbon dioxide provides carbon," said Mumma.

"Gases, like methane, accumulated in such underground zones might be released into the atmosphere if pores or fissures open during the warm seasons, connecting the deep zones to the atmosphere at crater walls or canyons," said Mumma.


Credit: NASA/Susan Twardy
Scientists don't yet know enough to say with certainty what the source of the Martian methane is, but this artist's concept depicts a possibility. In this illustration, subsurface water, carbon dioxide and the planet's internal heat combine to release methane. Although we don't have evidence on Mars of active volcanoes today, ancient methane trapped in ice "cages" might now be released.

"Microbes that produced methane from hydrogen and carbon dioxide were one of the earliest forms of life on Earth," noted Dr. Carl Pilcher, Director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute which partially supported the research. "If life ever existed on Mars, it's reasonable to think that its metabolism might have involved making methane from Martian atmospheric carbon dioxide."

However, it is possible a geologic process produced the Martian methane, either now or eons ago. On Earth, the conversion of iron oxide (rust) into the serpentine group of minerals creates methane, and on Mars this process could proceed using water, carbon dioxide, and the planet's internal heat. Although we don't have evidence on Mars of active volcanoes today, ancient methane trapped in ice "cages" called clathrates might now be released.

The team found methane in the atmosphere of Mars by carefully observing the planet over several Mars years (and all Martian seasons) with NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility, run by the University of Hawaii, and the W. M. Keck telescope, both at Mauna Kea, Hawaii.

The team used spectrometer instruments attached to the telescopes to make the detection. Spectrometers spread light into its component colors, like a prism separates white light into a rainbow. The team looked for dark areas in specific places along the rainbow (light spectrum) where methane was absorbing sunlight reflected from the Martian surface. They found three such areas, called absorption lines, which together are a definitive signature of methane, according to the team. They were able to distinguish lines from Martian methane from the methane in Earth's atmosphere because the motion of the Red Planet shifted the position of the Martian lines, much as a speeding ambulance causes its siren to change pitch as it passes by.

"We observed and mapped multiple plumes of methane on Mars, one of which released about 19,000 metric tons of methane," said Dr. Geronimo Villanueva of the Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. Villanueva is stationed at NASA Goddard and is co-author of the paper. "The plumes were emitted during the warmer seasons -- spring and summer -- perhaps because the permafrost blocking cracks and fissures vaporized, allowing methane to seep into the Martian air. Curiously, some plumes had water vapor while others did not," said Villanueva.

According to the team, the plumes were seen over areas that show evidence of ancient ground ice or flowing water. For example, plumes appeared over northern hemisphere regions such as east of Arabia Terra, the Nili Fossae region, and the south-east quadrant of Syrtis Major, an ancient volcano 1,200 kilometers (about 745 miles) across.

It will take future missions, like NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, to discover the origin of the Martian methane. One way to tell if life is the source of the gas is by measuring isotope ratios. Isotopes are heavier versions of an element; for example, deuterium is a heavier version of hydrogen. In molecules that contain hydrogen, like water and methane, the rare deuterium occasionally replaces a hydrogen atom. Since life prefers to use the lighter isotopes, if the methane has less deuterium than the water released with it on Mars, it's a sign that life is producing the methane. The research was funded by NASA's Planetary Astronomy Program and the NASA Astrobiology Institute.

SOURCE: NASA Mars Methane
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mars/news/marsmethane.html

The rest of the reports are here, though I have not updated the information since
http://www.thelivingmoon.com/43ancients/02files/Mars_Images_52_Methane.html

[ArMaP]

So ArMaP's color on Mars is pretty close to real color... as we would see it standing there

It's more the real colour of the objects in the scene, as an observer would see a reddish version resulting from the filtering from the dust in the air, the same thing that happens on dust storms on Earth.

[zorgon]

except that there isn't always dust in the air If there was we wouldn't have so many clear pictures from orbit

[ArMaP]

except that there isn't always dust in the air If there was we wouldn't have so many clear pictures from orbit

There is dust in the air, that's what makes that famous reddish tint on surface photos (or a hazy look on monochrome photos). That dust isn't as noticeable from space because the light comes (approximately) from the direction from where the camera is taking the photo.

You can see that in satellite photos of Earth, just a slight dust storm or smoke isn't enough to block the view of the ground below but, when looked from below with the light coming through the dust/smoke it affects the colours on the scene on the ground.

[Pimander]

Well ArMaP did the work using the color channels and came up with the REAL (as opposed to TRUE) color

I independently came to the conclusion that a thinner atmosphere would have a sky more blue than the sky on earth based on how a thinner atmosphere effects the wavelength of light.  And I didn't need to do any image analysis.

Basically, the blue skies were edited to look always red (when low dust levels) by NASA to meet with public expectations.

[ArMaP]

I independently came to the conclusion that a thinner atmosphere would have a sky more blue than the sky on earth based on how a thinner atmosphere effects the wavelength of light.  And I didn't need to do any image analysis.

What's the colour of the Earth's atmosphere at high altitudes?

Basically, the blue skies were edited to look always red (when low dust levels) by NASA to meet with public expectations.

No need for that, some dust in the air creates that effect, I saw that some years ago here in Portugal when the end of a Moroccan dust storm moved more to the north than usual.

[zorgon]

What's the colour of the Earth's atmosphere at high altitudes?

One of the reasons I like Nevada  when you go out into the high desert  (Bryce Canton rim is at 8,000 to 9,000 feet) you get to see clear blue skies. You have to experience to believe it but this picture shows what I mean 

[zorgon]

No need for that, some dust in the air creates that effect, I saw that some years ago here in Portugal when the end of a Moroccan dust storm moved more to the north than usual.

Here in the hot summers we too get haze  heat and dust  makes it look foggy but still blue



Like this NASA picture of Mars in a dust storm   dark, dusty but still blue



Now some severe dust storms will give you red skies  like this one in Australia. Quite impressive photos LOL of this huge cloud of red dust



So once your inside that everything looks red

[zorgon]

But what we are talking about is THIS

What is the point of taking a color gradient chart to Mars if your not going to use it?

And yes we ARE arguing about color again  LOL  but only because I want to gather it all in one spot to refresh the website



So lets go have a look at Viking. First the NASA image with too much red that they were showing



Then the over driven blue version by the conspiracy nuts



Both are wrong because Viking is WHITE so this is closer to real color... and yes its dusty that day with a tint of reddish



Now here is the thing  The current Rover images are not as red tinted as before  in fact they look a lot more Nevada desert like than before  so maybe NASA gave up the red tinting   But the odd thing is  the ORIGINAL images from Viking are still available at NASA  like THIS one  Hmmm how about that  blue sky

[zorgon]

This is from the website

Now then I too have a Mars Color image...

The image below taken by Spirit Rover is one from NASA and is "Radiometrically Calibrated" This image represents true color on Mars. These images are not generally released to the public yet are not difficult to find. However for the time being you will have to track them down yourself as we are not ready to hand over this source just yet...

Now I have done field work in geology for most of my life and the bluish black rocks and the sand in the image below look just like the volcanic Scoria, a type of Basalt in the desert sands here in Nevada... This summer I will go and take some photos of the area so we have a direct comparison.

n the meantime below is a small sample of Scoria or Vesicular Basalt. You can see the bluish black natural color of this material and it is readily found on Earth as one of the more common lavas...  So I am 100% positive on the type of rock and the color on Mars



In fact one of the things I look for in NASA images is the rocks  seeing as I am interested in rocks   So here are some more really nice closeups

[zorgon]

Mars Rover Color Calibration Chart
The "Sundial"

This one is from a paper on the Martian colors done by Lockheed Martin



These are images from Lockheeds color correction



A clear day today 


A Bright Clear and Sunny Day
Spirit :: Panorama Camera :: Sol 1508

DANG!!!  Looks just like my Nevada picture


A Bright Clear and Sunny Day
Spirit :: Panorama Camera :: Sol 1515


A Bright Clear and Sunny Day Bit of dust and haze 
Spirit :: Panorama Camera :: Sol 1526