Late-Spring Ice Cloud above Mars

**Admin** Fri Dec 23, 2011 12:10 am

Tharsis Limb Cloud - Mars Global Surveyor - 2005
Late-Spring Ice Cloud above Mars Limbcl10

Late-Spring Ice Cloud above Mars Cloud110

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1207, 7 September 2005

This composite of red and blue Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) daily global images acquired on 6 July 2005 shows an isolated water ice cloud extending more than 30 kilometers (more than 18 miles) above the martian surface. Clouds such as this are common in late spring over the terrain located southwest of the Arsia Mons volcano. Arsia Mons is the dark, oval feature near the limb, just to the left of the "T" in the "Tharsis Montes" label. The dark, nearly circular feature above the "S" in "Tharsis" is the volcano, Pavonis Mons, and the other dark circular feature, above and to the right of "s" in "Montes," is Ascraeus Mons. Illumination is from the left/lower left.

Link - http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/09/07/

Cropped TIF image
Late-Spring Ice Cloud above Mars Limbcl11

Cropped TIF image - Brightness adjusted
Late-Spring Ice Cloud above Mars Limbcl12

Cropped TIF image - Inverted
Late-Spring Ice Cloud above Mars Limbcl13

Zoomed with Enhancement
Late-Spring Ice Cloud above Mars Screen11

Is that a cloud or something else ? scratch

SpaceCase7717 Mon Mar 19, 2012 2:35 pm

That is a strange looking cloud. When I zoom in on it, it looks like an almost perfect sideways ice cream cone. The tip of it also looks black. Suspect

easynow Tue Mar 20, 2012 3:17 am

SpaceCase7717 wrote:That is a strange looking cloud. When I zoom in on it, it looks like an almost perfect sideways ice cream cone. The tip of it also looks black.

Yep it's certainly an odd looking item isn't it ?

Since it's supposedly an "ice cloud" maybe it really is a sideways ice cream cone ? mrgreen

Thanks for the reply SpaceCase and I gotta ask .. Do you think it's a cloud ?

edit to add ...
Mars Anomaly has a couple interesting articles about the clouds

http://www.marsanomalyresearch.com/evidence-reports/2011/209/mars-atmosphere.htm
http://www.marsanomalyresearch.com/evidence-reports/2009/160/ice-clouds-liquid-life-1.htm

SpaceCase7717 Wed Mar 21, 2012 10:50 pm

What's up. Do I think this is a cloud. scratch

I really don't know. It could be I guess, but the more I look at it the less it looks like a cloud.

I have spent the last little bit hunting down the blue and red copies of the photos. They are at http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/s05_s10/gmtables/S08-gm.2005-07-06.html They are numbers 613 and 614. It is just strange looking. Especially 614 if you zoom in and sharpen it a little. It looks like it is sitting on a bubble idunno

You should look at some of the other photos on that page, in your spare time. Some odd looking things in a few off them.

easynow Thu Mar 22, 2012 8:05 am

SpaceCase7717 wrote:What's up. Do I think this is a cloud. I really don't know. It could be I guess, but the more I look at it the less it looks like a cloud.

I have spent the last little bit hunting down the blue and red copies of the photos. They are at http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/s05_s10/gmtables/S08-gm.2005-07-06.html They are numbers 613 and 614. It is just strange looking. Especially 614 if you zoom in and sharpen it a little. It looks like it is sitting on a bubble

You should look at some of the other photos on that page, in your spare time. Some odd looking things in a few off them.

Thanks for the links, I'll definitely take a look sherlock

There does seem to be something in-between the "cloud" and the surface but I'm still not sure what it is. It could just be an image anomaly but I've been wondering if it might be somekind of atmospheric pillar created by an interaction of the cloud and surface ice? ... or if it's entirely something else? idunno yet.

Here's a crop from the PIA04285 Photojournal Tif image ...

Late-Spring Ice Cloud above Mars Pia04210

Link - http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/pia04285

If it really is just an ice cloud, one things for sure ... it's an Alien ice cloud mrgreen

SpaceCase7717 Sat Mar 24, 2012 6:11 pm

easynow wrote:If it really is just an ice cloud, one things for sure ... it's an Alien ice cloud

That is for sure Exclamation

So many strange and fascinating things on Mars. I am looking forward to the new rover Curiosity sending back images. Let's keep our fingers crossed for a successful mission.

easynow Sat Mar 24, 2012 6:39 pm

@SpaceCase7717

I'm also looking forward to seeing what the Curiosity rover mission produces.

I think since Mars is an Alien planet .. seeing odd things or anomalies in the images should be "the norm" and expected.

Check out this latest Mars anomaly ...

Mysterious cloud spotted on Mars
Late-Spring Ice Cloud above Mars Mars10