Black spots have been discovered on Mars that are so dark that nothing inside can be seen. Quite possibly, the spots are entrances to deep underground caves capable of protecting Martian life, were it to exist. The unusual hole pictured above was found on the slopes of the giant Martian volcano Arsia Mons.
This picture looks like it was Photoshopped, but it wasn’t.
Click on photo for full size.
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It’s not “so dark that nothing inside can be seen”. It’s so dark that the dynamic range of the camera at the gain and clipping settings was insufficient to resolve detail in that area. The team selects the range based on expected albedo etc, and when that doesn’t jive, the image is clipped. It’s only “photoshopped-looking” because everything in the pit is darker than the zero value chosen and clipped. We’ll see better pictures when they fly over again w/ new gain settings.
I always wondered what happened to bullets shot into the sky.
It just an Exhaust hole for the Volcano…
Wasn’t this explained in MARS ATTACKS!?
J/P=?
It’s the Eye of Mars,
here’s looking at you, Earthlings
Dynamic range or no dynamic range…it has a peculiar quality resembling a poor photoshop job. I’m dubious.
I don’t think NASA is in the photoshopping business.
Those are places that the Martian government has blacked out to prevent viewing. Area 52 where technology from Earth is hidden. Geesh, everyone knows that.
Or it’s just a spot on the lens.
2010…monoliths…pretty soon Mars is going to be micro-star! Oh hell! You think Global Warming is bad now?!?!
#6, John, don’t be dubious, the Mars Global Explorer wouldn’t fake us out.
Hop, you should visit APOD every day, makes a great home page since it has no adverts, scripts, cookies, spyware etc. And, if not careful, you could spend 30 minutes on the links offered. Educates me daily. It’s one cool site, I’ve seen every pic since 1995. I’ve even submitted some pix of my own, but I guess they have enough material to last a lifetime (and who can compete with the Hubble?) I think another frequent poster here, ECA, is a fan also. Today’s APOD is gorgeous:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070606.html
Last Sunday’s pic was also amazing:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070603.html
It’s an amazing discovery, and apparently some other holes have also been found. I hope that some probe will be sent there, because the characteristics of the holes seem to be different from anything seen on Earth (or at least that I’ve heard of). It’s like a tiny hole on an empty eggshell. Below it seems to be totally void. Calculations are being made to figure out just how deep the holes must be, considering the camera’s sensitivity, the strength of the sunlight and the diffusion effect of Mars’ atmosphere and dust, to be totally black on these pics. I can’t wait to know the answer! And I also hope some sort of robotic probe is sent inside, at least some camera with strong lights.
But just imagine if you were driving on Mars and all of a sudden you saw this huge hole! According to the HiRISE pictures, the margins are just a few meters – the full resolution of HiRISE is just 25 cm or 10 inches per pixel! And the margins are just a few pixels! I mean, if you were driving there you might just not see it and suddenly fall inside!!!
Seriously cool stuff!
But we know what these are. They are shafts that lead to the underground lairs of the Shadows. Soon they will be emerging.
It’s just the beginning… starting to prepare earth’s population for the announcement of extraterrestrial life… heck, even NASA says that the hole would be a great place to look for life.
Why am I suddenly thinking of Morlocks?
I don’t think NASA is in the photoshopping business.
I’m not saying this is ‘shopped, but everything we get from NASA is either enhanced or simulated – otherwise it would all be B&W.
Mars has planet herpes.
11. Bubba, I am a big fan of that site also, a few years ago I had a pro framer take four of my favorites fromt that site and frame them picture size, they are beautiful. Remember “mice”?
This is just the vent shaft for the underground cities.. whats the big deal?
# 17, mark, Mice, are you referring to NGC-4676? Way cool picture, and a fine sight in a 24″ scope (although not in color or that detail, but it is “live”, 300 million year old photons hitting your retina).
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040612.html
We predict in a few billion years, the Milky Way (our home galaxy) and the Great Galaxy in Andromeda will collide, perhaps looking like this from far away.
http://tinyurl.com/6a5vx
18. Yeah man, thats my desktop, and art on my wall. Love that one. Too far away from my 5″ Schmidt Cass, would love to see it live. (so to speak).
Is this Mar’s fourth hole?
Giggidy, giggidy
BubbaRay – Awesome is overused lately but that is the only word to describe the photos on that site.
#20, mark, yes, it’s 14th magnitude and only 2.8 arcminutes across. Thank goodness for APOD and the Hubble (and the Spitzer and all other orbiting observatories). Cheese, I want some time on the Keck in Hawaii.
http://www.keckobservatory.org/
This is obviously Bush’s fault in some way, since he and Halliburtin have ruined the earth, they are now ruining mars, it all part of a neo-con agenda I say. Oh sure I have no proof, but when has anti-bush rhetoric ever needed proof?
#24, sad
Flaw in the film?
Looks like a “wake” running to the top of the black, might be in motion. Or it might just be a really high skinny rock formation, yoou know how
Google Earth makes tall structures look like shadows.
If the black spots are indeed caves on Mars of any size, they might be good locations for human dwelling places. Rock attenuates radiation from the Sun, which will allow people to survive solar storms (attenuated by Earth’s atmosphere. mostly, though not always. See July’s Sky and Telescope issue).
#28, Floyd, good point. I’m not much of a spelunker, but I sure would like to explore that cave (or just go to Mars). Scientists will be debating the formation of those caves for years. Exciting times, more data from all orbiters, please.
Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall
(in a belated homage to Sgt Pepper’s, which turned forty on June the first.)