JPL: Citizen Scientists Seek South Pole 'Spiders' on Mars
Posted: Fri Oct 21, 2016 12:10 am
Citizen Scientists Seek South Pole 'Spiders' on Mars
NASA | JPL-Caltech | 2016 Oct 20
Thousands of Citizen Scientists Help Point NASA to New Mars Findings
Planetary Science Institute | 2016 Oct 20
NASA | JPL-Caltech | 2016 Oct 20
[img3="This image shows spidery channels eroded into Martian ground. It is a Sept. 12, 2016, example from HiRISE camera high-resolution observations of more than 20 places that were chosen in 2016 on the basis of about 10,000 volunteers' examination of Context Camera lower-resolution views of larger areas. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona"]http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/mro/2016 ... 126-16.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]Ten thousand volunteers viewing images of Martian south polar regions have helped identify targets for closer inspection, yielding new insights about seasonal slabs of frozen carbon dioxide and erosional features known as "spiders."
From the comfort of home, the volunteers have been exploring the surface of Mars by reviewing images from the Context Camera (CTX) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and identifying certain types of seasonal terrains near Mars' south pole. These efforts by volunteers using the "Planet Four: Terrains" website have aided scientists who plan observations with the same orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera. HiRISE photographs much less ground but in much greater detail than CTX. ...
The type of terrain called spiders, or "araneiform" (from the Latin word for spiders), is characterized by multiple channels converging at a point, resembling a spider's long legs. Previous studies concluded that this ground texture results from extensive sheets of ice thawing bottom-side first as the ice is warmed by the ground below it. Thawed carbon dioxide gas builds up pressure, and the gas escapes through vents in the overlying sheet of remaining ice, pulling dust with it. This process carves the channels that resemble legs of a spider. ...
Thousands of Citizen Scientists Help Point NASA to New Mars Findings
Planetary Science Institute | 2016 Oct 20