Wow...well spotted, Stu.

The quantity of space imagery being released these days that I don't have time to look through is both marvelous and depressing

--Emily

Remarkable; thanks, Stu!!!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but is that an island in the middle of the channel? Hmmm exp hmmmm....

Gale still gets my uneducated MSL vote. It's just more spectacular than the others.

I could explain the lack of impact features to myself, since this is a small area presumably on a crater wall. But an island seems really interesting.



Is this actually Gale, or is it Hale? I saw a gullies in Hale image posted, didn't see Gale yet.

Stu said those a few posts ago were Gale.

I agree. I'm particularly concerned about Ebrswalde which I fear looks enticing on a macro scale but like Gusev it could become a disappointment (the serendipitous Columbia Hills notwithstanding), possibly hard sandstone maybe even overlaid with some kind of cap-rock obstruction. I like Gale but I also think the likely breathtaking scenery at Holden would be something to keep Stu's inkwell stirred.

"Baby" gully on a new HiRISE image..?

http://cumbriansky.wordpress.com/2009/09/1...geous-gullies-2

Just wondering... all input appreciated

I'm certainly no geologist, but I agree with your interpretation of that. Definitely would be nice to get a second image of it later.

If it's a "baby" gully, it's been a baby for quite a while. The sand ripples evident in the image seem to have conformed to the dip into the linear depression. If this feature were a new gully that is just beginning to form, you wouldn't expect that there would have been time for such conformal ripples to have formed along the topography.

-the other Doug

Ah, good thinking Doug, thanks. All input appreciated; it was just something that caught my eye.

I would add however Stu that the age of dunes on this steep slope doesn't necessarily correspond to the age of dunes on the plains of Meridiani. So don't abandon your idea yet. For all we know these dunes migrate down that slope on a much more frequent basis. And if the composition is different from what we've seen previously then the mechanical properties of the particles comprising them will be different too. Show me this same photo two years hence and then we can come to some conclusions.

A teleconference scheduled shortly (today): http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=29221

teleconference was about water on the moon! Solar wind trapped in lunar soil:hydrogen ions combining with oxygen in the soil to form hydroxyl and water molecules...higher concentration at the higher latitudes towards the poles...diurnal variations with higher concentrations in the morning and dusk!

That was the lunar press conference.

Right NOW - there is a teleconference about MRO -
http://www.nasa.gov/news/media/newsaudio/index.html
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/MRO/news/mro20090924.html

They have spotted ice in fresh craters. Not 1% ice in Moon soil. 99% ice in mars soil

Would you like some ice with your lunar regolith? How about some martian regolith with your ice.

As with Dr. Johnson's dancing dog, the wonder is not that there's great ice on the moon -- the wonder is that it's there at all.

However, I'll admit Martian ice in fresh craters is pretty cool too.

--Greg

Colourised crop from one of today's HiRISE releases...

http://twitpic.com/jrojd/full

THAT is an incredible image, Stu; thank you!!!

I think I saw one of those carved into a cliff at Chaco NHP.

Chaco is one of my favorite parks. I was there once during a total lunar eclipse. It was magical.

David

Nice photo .It almost looks like we have some "crop circle Artists " up there

The latest batch of releases also features a rather good image of some of the "martian spiders" - sorry, "radial channels" ... couple of colourised crops here...

http://twitpic.com/jtjdy/full

http://twitpic.com/jtjf8/full

Just a gorgeous, gorgeous view...

http://twitpic.com/krklr

Wow: great find Stu ! ... one of the most phantastic, surrealistic martian dune formations yet

Subtiler, but DDs can do beautiful artwork too. It's fascinating to see how the DDs spun around.

Cropped and sharpened image:

2.7MB full res. http://www.greuti.ch/mro/ESP_014426_2070.jpg

0.65MB http://www.greuti.ch/mro/ESP_014426_2070s.jpg

I love the combination of slope streaks and dustdevil tracks! It's a smoking gun of sorts.

Any geological types want to hazard a guess what this is? Crater with multiple rims, maybe? (I'm not good at whether a feature is an innie or an outie.)

The smoking gun of coincidence!

hmm, looks like craters that's been eroded down to their "cores". The boulders could be megabrecia.

alternatively, could be eroded, heavily jointed basalt... In which case you are looking at the tops of plutonic dikes.

Either way, lots of erosion.

Not so much. I meant the DD tracks are second very visual indication that a lot of dust moves around in the atmosphere, and dust avalanches can occur when things get past the angle of repose.

What about this one?
Click to view attachment

That is amazing. It looks like a blanket with an artistic pattern.

This is where we need the guy who says 'Zis is not nuts, zis is super-nuts!'

Phil

My gosh! At first I thought it was a joke picture of someone's tattoo. Where/what is it?

--Greg

Not a bad idea... I think I will get that tattooed on me.

Phil

are the dunes in valleys?
are the surrounding terrain hills?
and mars has a thin atmosphere
do the wind cyclones die as they leave the valley and terminate at the tops of the hills?
of course the counter argument is on earth the valleys would be cold at there floors this must not be the mechanism on mars for energy for a cyclone or tornado.
tornadoes on mars must be driven differently then on earth

Where/what is it?


Check it out here.

This one just gets more fascinating every time I look at it; definitely one of HiRISE's Top 10 most beautiful & intriguing images!

(Looking at LROC image...)

Call that a bouncing boulder? THIS is a bouncing boulder..!

http://twitpic.com/lsry0

http://twitpic.com/lss3l



(from HiRISE image ESP_01439_2045)

...holy [clinking] [clink!!!!] Can't believe what I'm looking at here, Stu, what a find!

Stu, that's not resolving; can you check your source? I think there should be six digits in the first cluster of numbers.

Emily try ESP_014394_2045 .

Thanks Dan!

It's not a "find"; the image is already labelled "bouncing boulder" on the HiRISE site. I just coloured it in a bit :-)

Aah, you still deserve the props, big guy. It's an important image for understanding the behavior of these things; thanks for bringing it to life!

How could a dust avalanche flow around the boulder so neatly?

If you liked that, Nick, you'll love this...

http://twitpic.com/lug9n

HA!!! Christmas in October! What a stunning sight; thanks, Stu!

Has this been mentioned here before? I'm not sure how old it is!
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/earthmoon.php

It's stated on that very same page: "... acquired at 5:20 a.m. MST on 3 October 2007"

Clearly I should have started a new topic for it, then.