Martian Skies

The information that is now coming to us regarding water on Mars is some 50 years too late and even then some pictures and information are false. The pictures however, that we are seeing are amazing, the website below contains just a small selection of those photographs. My favourite photograph is below. It is hard to imagine that looking at that one photograph there is so much war and hatred on this planet. That one picture should serve as a reminder to us all that we are one, we are all the same, there are no differences between us and more importantly that we live on such a beautiful planet.

Even higher in the Martian sky, the Earth and Moon hang in space, as seen from Mars. The HiRISE camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter acquired this image at 5:20 a.m. MST on October 3rd, 2007, at a range of 142 million kilometers, while orbiting Mars.

Yesterday's announcement by NASA of the discovery of water ice on Mars by its Phoenix Lander probe made big news everywhere. The discovery involved the observation of water ice sublimating into the air - that is, the water went from solid to vapor state without reaching the liquid stage. The Martian atmosphere has perfect conditions for sublimation - extremely thin, dry and cold. How cold? Well, you can check the Live Martian Weather Report, with data from a station on board the Phoenix Lander. Today will see a high temperature of a toasty -26 degrees F.

What more do we know about Mars' atmosphere? It's hundreds of times thinner than Earth's atmosphere and is made of 95% carbon dioxide, 3% nitrogen, 1.6% argon, and contains traces of oxygen, water, and methane. We also know, from observations that it can support dust storms, dust devils, clouds and gusty winds. With an amazing number of six current live probes exploring Mars (two rovers, a lander, and three orbiters), there are many thousands of images available.

Source: Boston.com