Weird Things Seen on Mars

Here's a whole gallery with dozens of them here.

https://www.cnet.com/pictures/weird-obje...-pictures/

MR will be interested to learn that Bigfoots (Bigfeet?) are found on Mars too. (Probably pareidolia like the famous Mars face)

A bone of one of them. (NASA thinks it's just an eroded rock.)

Here's a before and after: the photo of the left was taken shortly before the one on the right. (NASA thinks the rover dislodged a rock that rolled into the scene.)

This one was seen from orbit by the Mars Reconaissance Orbiter's cameras. NASA isn't sure what it is, but think that it's some kind of eroded volcanic feature.

And an alien light spotted on the horizon. (NASA thinks this is an artifact caused by a cosmic ray hitting their photographic system.)

(Sep 8, 2018 11:17 PM)Yazata Wrote: Here's a before and after: the photo of the left was taken shortly before the one on the right. (NASA thinks the rover dislodged a rock that rolled into the scene.)

It can happen. The rover disturbance solely dislodges the rock to that spot without the latter causing a pebble or grain of anything else to tumble along with it, or produce disarranged features. "Swoosh! Hits nothing but net from downtown!"

~

Probably a baby HORTA...

This one interests me. The area around the strange formation seems awfully smooth. (The formation reminds me of a clogged drain in the bottom of a sink.)

The smoothness suggests that the smooth surface is new, and there hasn't been time for it to have become scarred by erosion.

So is this the surface of the Martian polar icecap, a surface that may or may not form and reform periodically as the cap grows and contracts with the Martian seasons? If so, then the weird formation may be indication of some sub-surface process, perhaps localized heating that melted the lower levels of ice in that spot. So is this evidence of still-active volcanism on Mars?

(Sep 10, 2018 05:38 PM)Yazata Wrote: This one interests me. The area around the strange formation seems awfully smooth. (The formation reminds me of a clogged drain in the bottom of a sink.) [...]

Initially reminded me of a skull that had its top removed (i.e., the convolutions of brain tissue). Or perhaps the chunk that Hannibal Lecter removed from Krendler's pre-frontal cortex before feeding it to him.

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(Sep 10, 2018 05:38 PM)Yazata Wrote: This one interests me. The area around the strange formation seems awfully smooth. (The formation reminds me of a clogged drain in the bottom of a sink.)

The smoothness suggests that the smooth surface is new, and there hasn't been time for it to have become scarred by erosion.

So is this the surface of the Martian polar icecap, a surface that may or may not form and reform periodically as the cap grows and contracts with the Martian seasons? If so, then the weird formation may be indication of some sub-surface process, perhaps localized heating that melted the lower levels of ice in that spot. So is this evidence of still-active volcanism on Mars?

Obviously this is an air hole similar to that found in the Arctic ice. One can plainly see some large animals in it including a creature to left that looks very similar to a human (Bigfoot? )with both legs, torso and arm visible. The other shapes have a seal-like quality with, if you look real closely, two eyes and a nose on a head situated close to the centre. C'mon guys, it's Martians, what else could they be?

(Sep 10, 2018 05:38 PM)Yazata Wrote: So is this evidence of still-active volcanism on Mars?

Still active? No, but it may have been relatively recent.  If you consider 1.25 million years ago relatively recent.

They say that the Athabasca region contains some of the youngest flood lava on Mars.  The evidence for recently flowing liquid water is less certain but some areas in this region suggest that it may have been as recent as 1.25 million years ago.

Coils and Polygonal Crust in the Athabasca Valles Region, Mars, as Evidence for a Volcanic History

With little atmosphere and low gravity, as well as wide temperature variations,
I reckon its likely that very light and porous rocks could form on Mars that would easily crumble on Earth.
Our sturdy rovers lasted much longer than expected.
So its probably a very delicate environment compared to Earth.

The porous rocks being so light could be moved around by wind,
as I have seen quite a few examples of moving rocks on Mars.

WTF?!!