[/caption]
Melas Chasma is part of the huge Valles Marineris that cuts into the middle of Mars surface, making it a pretty interesting place: there is abundant evidence for water having flowed here, with ancient water-cut channels visible even from orbit. Also visible are landslides that have created huge fans of rubble at the base of the cliffs. These newest images from ESA’s Mars Express show Melas Chasma, which sinks 9 km below the surrounding surface, making it one of the lowest depressions on the planet. This is just a small part of the bigger Valles Marineris, which stretches for more than 4,000 km across the surface of Mars. Around Melas Chasma, there are lighter-coloured deposits of sulphate components that were probably deposited in a former lake.
These images were captured in 2006 and just released by the Mars Express team. See more details and images at the ESA website.
In 1960, in preparation for the first SETI conference, Cornell astronomer Frank Drake formulated an…
The Pentagon office in charge of fielding UFO reports says that it has resolved 118…
The Daisy World model describes a hypothetical planet that self-regulates, maintaining a delicate balance involving…
Researchers have been keeping an eye on the center of a galaxy located about a…
When it comes to telescopes, bigger really is better. A larger telescope brings with it…
Pluto may have been downgraded from full-planet status, but that doesn't mean it doesn't hold…