Run, do not walk to the ESA website and download the magnificent image of Hebes Chasma on Mars:
This is an extremely deep chasm (8000 meters deep — that’s nearly as deep as Mt. Everest is tall!) almost smack on the Martian equator, at the northern tip of the grand Valles Marineris, the canyon on Mars that’s as wide as the Grand Canyon is long, and as long as the United States. This image from the high resolution camera on Europe’s Mars Express has a resolution of 15 meters/pixel, so if any martians are playing tennis, you could just make out the court. They even have an anaglyph!
Universe Today (make sure you Digg that article, not mine!), where I saw this first, has more info.
That image is stunning, fantastic. It may even edge out my other favorite Mars picture, and it’s certainly a contender for my Top Ten pick of the year.
Wow.
March 30th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
That can’t be from Mars. It looks *nothing* like a face.
March 30th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Every time I see a picture like this, I think “Look at that erosion! See what happens when you don’t practice responsible and sustainable agriculture?!” Of course, that’s not the case here.
Beautiful, just beautiful. Even more so in the hi-res version. Still looking for Bigfoot’s tracks, though!
March 30th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
I wish there were a way of projecting this image onto a 3-D model of Mars so you could tilt the view and get a sense of elevation differences, like you can do on Google Earth. Maybe Google Mars isn’t too far off!
March 30th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
I personally like the face comment. That is a beautiful picture.
March 30th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
8000 meters? Wowza. How much denser would the atmosphere be at the bottom?
March 30th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
Of course it isn’t the face. It is …um … how to put this delicately?… a bit further south?
JC
March 30th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
All of the edges of this formation are so crisp and sharp. It looks as if it could have been formed quite recently even though there are some craters inside of it. Any idea of how old it might be?
March 30th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
Hey JackC. Funny you should say that… when I was looking through which images should go with the article, I found myself censoring some of the more “revealing” shots… but then I posted them anyway
I wonder how long it will take before people start… erm… noticing just how “unique” Hebes Chasma really is…
Cheers, Ian
March 30th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
it amazing how everything on that little planet is big, big is little and little is big, how odd yet cool our universe is
March 30th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
Of course it’s a face. It’s just that it’s a baboon face.
March 30th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
The anaglyph is spectacular! Had to fish around until I found a set of 3D glasses, but it was well worth it. Could probably spend most of the evening looking at the erosion patterns. Fantastic!
March 30th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
Harold: Google Mars has actually been around for a few years now:
March 30th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
Odd…The website didn’t show up. It’s: http://www.google.com/mars/
March 30th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
I watched the 60 minutes interview with Al Gore, he’s made a lot of money from his Google stock. Good for him.
For cutting edge analysis of the interview
http://www.newcomensengine.com/2008/03/spreading-love.html
p.s. love the mars pics.
March 30th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
Kind of looks like a mole that you should immediately bring to your doctor’s attention.
March 30th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
Cameron, I think Harold was referring to a 3D program like Google Earth. I’ve been wishing they release something like that since long ago, and still waiting
March 30th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Speaking of Google maps, they have one that tracks the location of the ISS.
March 30th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
The reconstructed image viewed from an angle is really cool too!
http://esamultimedia.esa.int/images/marsexpress/378-260208-2149-6-3d-1-01-HebesChasma_H1.jpg
Are these images false color or realistic, (”if human eye were there”) color?
If all the money wasted on Bush’s Iraq war was spent on exploring Mars we could have more than a few nifty robots exploring down there!
March 31st, 2008 at 12:33 am
I really, really, really need new glasses. I read this as Herpes Chasma.
March 31st, 2008 at 1:01 am
I think that the hi-res version is much more beautiful than any artist could have
painted if he had tried for his lifetime.
Larry
March 31st, 2008 at 1:09 am
JackC and Ian -
I was going to make a joke about depth perception problems and not being able to tell if it was a butte or a crack, but decided not to. You can thank me now or later…
March 31st, 2008 at 1:09 am
Erm.
Hrm.
Ahem.
Cough.
It’s actually a pretty impressive layout; there’s a ridgeline majora, and a ridgeline minora. And it even has the most important bit, highlighted in blue.
(Ian: not long at all, I would wager. Like I said, it’s pretty impressive.
)
March 31st, 2008 at 1:25 am
Yes, I too automatically thought of a woman, I wonder why…
March 31st, 2008 at 1:31 am
Actually this must indicate an highly intelligent artistic life form, who used at least one human model.
Probably from their impressionistic period (or deliberately modified to evade their censors?).
Likely to be a signal made for us – saying they’ve been to Earth, loved the hospitality, and moved on…
So it is unlikely to be the work of life forms that evolved on Mars!
-Nivag
March 31st, 2008 at 5:12 am
“If all the money wasted on Bush’s Iraq war was spent on exploring Mars we could have more than a few nifty robots exploring down there!”
Hmm.
So, if the CIA were to find a video recording from OBL in his secret Martian lair…
March 31st, 2008 at 5:39 am
I think that the resolution is more like 45 m per pixel. The key giving 20 km is around 439 to 441 pixels long, which would be 45.56 to 45.35 m per pixel.
I looked at the image size information and calculated roughly 40 km vertical, then thought “That is an incredibly steep edge”. Then I spotted the scale key.
March 31st, 2008 at 6:03 am
What would the atmospheric pressure be at the bottom of this thing?
March 31st, 2008 at 6:57 am
Holy Canole! Those are great images, especially in 3D. (Good 3D glasses are a great investment.) Just wish they had the whole image in anaglyph as well as the others. See the ESA site.
Colors.
March 31st, 2008 at 8:54 am
“So, if the CIA were to find a video recording from OBL in his secret Martian lair…”
They would do the same thing they are doing now: nothing.
Amazing pic…I, too, am curious about how much (if any at all) denser the atmosphere would be down there.
March 31st, 2008 at 9:15 am
Just saying what I’m seeing.
It looks like roadkill to me, lol.
March 31st, 2008 at 9:31 am
Wow!
Sexy!!!
Just goes to show, the universe celebrates life, regardless of universal censors.
GAry 7
March 31st, 2008 at 11:26 am
boggis the cat said: “So, if the CIA were to find a video recording from OBL in his secret Martian lair…”
You’re attributing to OBL more scientific brilliance than he could ever deserve. Don’t worry, Mars is safe from his contemptible presence, nor is he in Iraq. Check a geography book. News reports say he’s likely in the Afghanistan/Pakistan border area, or maybe Dick Cheney’s basement.
Out of the “bogus” realm – I found a few hints in the text that false color filtering was used to perhaps enhance data but the terrain above the canyon also looks like “authentic” Martian colors as seen from space, so I’m wondering if the beautiful blue/green shades at the base of the canyon represent different chemistry or are similar to authentic colors.
March 31st, 2008 at 12:01 pm
I tried to calculate the atmospheric pressure at the bottom of the chasm, but the atmospheric formula gives a ridiculous answer. Clearly it needs a more sophisticated approach.
Anyone? … anyone? …
March 31st, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Glad I am not the only one who thought it looked similar to the area that houses the thing that rhymes with Delores.
March 31st, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Cameron, thatnk you. But DarkSapiens was right, and Chip provided a link to exactly the sort of thing I was hoping to see!
It is so hard to look at the stuff at the bottom of the slopes and not imagine that it is silt…and still wet.
March 31st, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Holy crap! It looks like a giant cooter! Maybe they should turn the picture sideways.
March 31st, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Please – somebody tell Richard Hoagland about this. I can’t wait to hear what he has to say about “The V—– On Mars”.
April 1st, 2008 at 3:32 am
The Venus On Mars!?
A better fit than Uranus On Mars though.
April 1st, 2008 at 5:03 am
Mind the gap!
April 1st, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Shame on me for thinking of first the pejorative term for Jews. What really makes that sad is my undergrad degree was in Classical Studies, and I know who Hebe was. :/
That said… isn’t the title missing an apostrophe? Are you just trying to fool our eyes BA?! ::shakes tiny fist::
June 2nd, 2009 at 9:25 am
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June 2nd, 2009 at 9:26 am
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June 2nd, 2009 at 9:47 am
June 2nd, 2009 at 9:50 am