What do you think the unusual plumes on Mars are?

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What do you think the unusual plumes on Mars are?

Poll ended at Wed Mar 04, 2015 12:52 am

Dust carried up by unusual wind currents
292
21%
Dust from an unnoticed volcanic event
353
26%
Sunlight reflecting from ice crystals
145
11%
Camera or image processing artifacts
16
1%
Evidence that Mars is a government hoax ;)
90
7%
Something completely different
471
34%
 
Total votes: 1367

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RJN
Baffled Boffin
Posts: 1673
Joined: Sat Jul 24, 2004 1:58 pm
Location: Michigan Tech

What do you think the unusual plumes on Mars are?

Post by RJN » Sat Feb 21, 2015 12:52 am

Currently, the origin of unusual plumes on Mars is unknown. Please vote for your favorite explanation. This informal poll is connected to the Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) of 2015 February 24, found here: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150224.html . If you have other thoughts, comments, or guesses as to the origin of these unusual plumes, please either post them below.

User avatar
bystander
Apathetic Retiree
Posts: 21590
Joined: Mon Aug 28, 2006 2:06 pm
Location: Oklahoma

Re: What do you think the unusual plumes on Mars are?

Post by bystander » Sat Feb 21, 2015 7:29 am

Know the quiet place within your heart and touch the rainbow of possibility; be
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk.
— Garrison Keillor

Mike Herman
Asternaut
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Feb 24, 2015 5:15 am

Re: What do you think the unusual plumes on Mars are?

Post by Mike Herman » Tue Feb 24, 2015 5:19 am

Meteorite impacts.

eric 2

Re: What do you think the unusual plumes on Mars are?

Post by eric 2 » Tue Feb 24, 2015 5:53 am

Mike Herman wrote:Meteorite impacts.
in the same spot over 7 days?

Texas Mike

Re: What do you think the unusual plumes on Mars are?

Post by Texas Mike » Tue Feb 24, 2015 5:56 am

Simply being hit by a meteor. I am sure it happens all the time.

Aliena Jackson

Re: What do you think the unusual plumes on Mars are?

Post by Aliena Jackson » Tue Feb 24, 2015 7:04 am

If there was enough evidence of water on Mars, I would opt for something akin to a geyser.

Ryan

Re: What do you think the unusual plumes on Mars are?

Post by Ryan » Tue Feb 24, 2015 7:41 am

My first thought was prolonged thermal venting, not unlike a volcanoe and it's associated network of magma and channels, but likely because mars is nothing like earth green and vibrant state of regeneration and life cycle, it is likely thermal/gas in nature and part of its atmospheric/environmental reconstitution. Stirring up dust and surface matter and/or some kind of charged or combusting particles occurring during periodic continuous "burst" and "currents" of the gases and contents being released from pressured chambers

tm368
Asternaut
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Feb 24, 2015 8:14 am

Re: What do you think the unusual plumes on Mars are?

Post by tm368 » Tue Feb 24, 2015 8:20 am

ALIENS HAVE BEAT US TO MARS AND WERE CAUGHT DOING MAJOR CONSTRUCTION USING NUCLEAR DEMOLITION!!!!!!! LOL

manonmars

Re: What do you think the unusual plumes on Mars are?

Post by manonmars » Tue Feb 24, 2015 8:40 am

It's water vapour being ejected from deep in Mars . .hence the foggy Venus like cloud surrounding the planet

Lilly

Re: What do you think the unusual plumes on Mars are?

Post by Lilly » Tue Feb 24, 2015 9:05 am

manonmars wrote:It's water vapour being ejected from deep in Mars . .hence the foggy Venus like cloud surrounding the planet
That was my first thought....

mnvikings0

Re: What do you think the unusual plumes on Mars are?

Post by mnvikings0 » Tue Feb 24, 2015 9:26 am

medium sized meteor impact

Obelisk

Re: What do you think the unusual plumes on Mars are?

Post by Obelisk » Tue Feb 24, 2015 10:07 am

My first thought was volcanism, but I think an meteorite - impact is more likely. Because this plume is seen in the pole region, I imagine that the impact causes frozen gas and water to melt and cristallize again in the atmosphere reflecting sunlight, making the plume look denser than it actually is.

Frank-O

Re: What do you think the unusual plumes on Mars are?

Post by Frank-O » Tue Feb 24, 2015 12:18 pm

Meteor impact would be my guess.

wkingmilw

Re: What do you think the unusual plumes on Mars are?

Post by wkingmilw » Tue Feb 24, 2015 12:32 pm

There may be more than one type of cause and plume, all of which would look about the same from this distance.

makndo

Re: What do you think the unusual plumes on Mars are?

Post by makndo » Tue Feb 24, 2015 12:37 pm

Could the plume be related to seasonal changes--spring in the northern hemisphere of Mars would sublimate the frozen gases at the pole and create an expanding cloud of ice crystals .

Guest

Re: What do you think the unusual plumes on Mars are?

Post by Guest » Tue Feb 24, 2015 12:51 pm

Ummm, some pretty imaginative answers, yet the obvious one was not listed. I wonder why?

visualj

Re: What do you think the unusual plumes on Mars are?

Post by visualj » Tue Feb 24, 2015 1:17 pm

I seem to recall an Isaac Asimov (writing as Paul French) story that described dust storms on Mars that were extremely bad because static electricity would suspend the dust particles. maybe that is it...

Luck Starr and the Sands of Mars?

Spectrum

Re: What do you think the unusual plumes on Mars are?

Post by Spectrum » Tue Feb 24, 2015 1:19 pm

The Mysterons, ;)

starsurfer
Stellar Cartographer
Posts: 5409
Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2012 7:25 pm

Re: What do you think the unusual plumes on Mars are?

Post by starsurfer » Tue Feb 24, 2015 2:17 pm

Maybe it is a dust based version of a geyser?

Calmdown

Re: What do you think the unusual plumes on Mars are?

Post by Calmdown » Tue Feb 24, 2015 2:29 pm

Calm down. Its just a new Walmart being built. sheesh.

DrDrako

Re: What do you think the unusual plumes on Mars are?

Post by DrDrako » Tue Feb 24, 2015 2:45 pm

Obviously: Thermal plume above an alien tailgate party around a cluster of old surface-rovers thought to be long dead.
Second guess: Look to interacting near-polar water and or CO2 surface-atmosphere processes.

Stephen B

Re: What do you think the unusual plumes on Mars are?

Post by Stephen B » Tue Feb 24, 2015 2:47 pm

Wait a couple weeks until the first cylinder lands and you'll know what this means!

Rob444b

Re: What do you think the unusual plumes on Mars are?

Post by Rob444b » Tue Feb 24, 2015 2:58 pm

Stephan. I agree with you cylinders from Mars was my first thought!

gr810r

Re: What do you think the unusual plumes on Mars are?

Post by gr810r » Tue Feb 24, 2015 3:11 pm

Burning Man, Martian version.

CubbyBear3

Re: What do you think the unusual plumes on Mars are?

Post by CubbyBear3 » Tue Feb 24, 2015 3:20 pm

Perhaps is is some kind of Martian "Aurora" which according to wikipedia can go as high as 1,000 km in Earth's atmosphere.