Slashdot Mirror
People Seeing Life on Mars
Ward C. Diehl writes "Tech Central Station has an article detailing the latest round of Martian visions, over 100 years after Percival Lowell's canal 'sightings'. The article interviews astrobiologists, including Nobel laureate Richard Roberts, and one astronomer from the fringe. The latest photos from Mars Express, Opportunity, and Spirit are interpreted as sea shells, pyramids, Nasca-like lines, etc. and one truly freak-deaky crab claw. There's a great link list at the end of the article so we have a gallery these photos. Prepare to blow your Friday afternoon productivity!"
"Look Gloria, I'm telling you... this ship came crashing down, and started taking pictures... and then it drove off. It was a UFO from Earth! I swear!"
I don't think I'd call "material from the airbag" (what nasa thinks that image is of) "freaky deaky".
/* oops I accidentally made a comment, sorry */
It's Friday and you're on /. Fair bet the Friday productivity can't be blown much more.
"Consensus" in science is _always_ a political construct.
I'm not a big fan of George Noory, but Art's been hosting on weekends again. Yay.
--
Evan
"$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
I saw this on the Weekly World news, and so I imediately submitted it to slashdot. Worlds fattest woman adopts and sits on worlds fattest cat. That story had everything! It must be some sort of government conspiracy to keep the news that matters from nerds who care. The bastards!
Well, seeing as the entire town is iced over, I think my friday afternoon productivity will come back when the sun does
-- (appended to the end of comments you post, 120 chars)
Of all the images linked, I think the "Pyramid and underground entrance (at the apex of the pic)" is the most interesting. Sure, there are plenty of non-ET explanations, especially since the view looks pretty skewed. But if there were to be one visible artifact of some long-dead civilization, it would probably be some mostly flat structure on the top of a mound. Anything in a valley would probably have gotten covered up by the dust.
But let's get one thing straight. Even if it does turn out that these shapes were created by intelligent hands, it does NOT mean that ancient Martians built the Egyptian or Mayan pyramids. A cone is simply a stable structure. Saying that Earthly pyramids must have been built by Martians is like saying that the doodlebug holes and ant mounds in the back yard were built by the ancient Egyptians.
Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
Wait! According to this site, the Earth's rotation is really some sort of simultaneous four-day time cube! Maybe I should post that to Slashdot; it'll be accepted as breaking science news for sure, just like "Face on Mars" and "Mars photo color alteration" pieces.
I find the lack of interest that NASA has shown for the "claw" as the article puts it, to be very interesting. I'm relatively convinced that it must be a piece of the airbag or possibly debris that was ejected when the pyros were fired to release the rover.
What I don't understand is why NASA hasn't released another image from a different angle. Aren't they at all interested in what part of the lander/rover it is? If they intend to use the airbag method for landing probes on Mars in the future why don't they want to know what parts are falling off of the spacecraft they are sending?
I'm certainly not suggesting that there is a conspiracy, that NASA is deliberately covering up evidence of past or present life on Mars. I have nothing but the greatest respect for the men and women who are working on these projects. I also understand that they have better things to do than react to crackpots who are crying cover-up because NASA won't try to get a better snapshot of the "face" for the third time. But I am not happy when they fail to even remark upon an object that is obviously there and obviously odd looking.
It is possible that they are using the buzz being generated by this object to attract attention to the program. I certainly hope that's not the case, as NASA does not need that kind of attention.
The latest photos from Mars Express, Opportunity, and Spirit are interpreted as sea shells, pyramids, Nasca-like lines, etc. and one truly freak-deaky crab claw.
Anyone who's seen the Outer Limits episode "Invisible Enemy" (starring Adam West, circa 1960-something) already knows that Mars is inhabited by large, blood-thirsty creatures with crab-like claws. Awful, awful episode.
Bush is a cylon.
order can be occasionally found in chaos. but it's still chaos. let the scientists do their thing, and I'm *sure* they will let you know when they're definitely found something.
The enormous golf-ball / buckyball-like structure sitting in a crater:
What the hell?. Here is the image in context.
It looks like a gigantic sphere has crashed into the planet - but the ridges on it make it almost look artificial. I'm amazed something that size could impact the planet (at, presumably, orbital velocities) - yet maintain it's shape. It's the most interesting structure that I've seen yet in any of the mars photos and I'd love to see a close-up view of it from the surface to help figure out exactly what the hell it is.
I love that show. Where else can you hear people who simultaneously believe in angels, aliens, christianity, ghosts, exorcism, satan, cow mutilation, bigfoot, mind control, underpants gnomes, psychic powers, the afterlife, etc..
At least if you're going to believe in a fantasy, pick one that's internally consistent.
http://www.masturbateforpeace.com/
Dr. Zoidberg I presume?
It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. -Frederick Douglass
We all have a tendency to perceive what we expect to be there. It only takes one certifiable nut to post something up, and the pictures are swarmed with people blindly confirming the initial opinion. I refer to the now-famous martian "face". Sure, it looks like a face. I know of several Earth-based sites which have topographical similarities to a face. Seeing as we are biologically equipped to recognize patterns, it should come as no surprise that we see something other than what really caused the resemblence: coincidence.
------- "A true friend stabs you in the front." -Eliot
Sky and Telescope just did a thing about Lowell's Canals. Traditionally, planet photos are just a blur while skilled observers claim to see all kinds of stuff by waiting for glimpes of "good seeing." Look at any traditional astronomy textbook and you see these awful photos of Mars and Jupiter and Saturn. It turns out that some amateurs with CCD or WebCams can sift through tons of blury images to find the few good ones and and then use image software to stack to good images to build up contrast. Using such advanced imaging techniques, they showed some images where if you use your imagination somewhat, you can see Lowell canals.
What I want to know if there is much of any correspondence between spacecraft images of Mars and what is scene from Earth-based telescopes. The Man in the Moon is mainly three of the larger maria forming two eye sockets and a kind of Mr. Bill oooooo mouth. Stuff like Syrtis Major and the light and dark markings -- are those just wind-blown albedo features or do they correspond to some kind of continental-scale topography? How big are the Lowell Canals compared to Vallis Marinaris (I imagine Vallis Marinaris while honkin big is below what can be seen from Earth, maybe like trying to see the Grand Canyon from the Moon, but how far off is it?).
To quote Boston, "Everything looks unusual when there aren't enough pixels." How true. How very true. I used the same resolution and found a crab on a picture of one of my favore porn stars. Creepy. If I could somehow gain control of a Mars satellite, I'm sure I could snap some pictures over the variety of deserts it has that people could say, "Hey! Look at that two pixel mass! It must be a Mars elephant!!" Regardless of where we're photographing, I think it's very important to remember that in cases like these, probability is out the window. Anything is possible: dunes in the shapes of faces, bits and pieces of the lander looking like a "claw" (though if it were a claw I'd call it a bottom-of-the-chain crab, regarding it's ridiculous shape), or entrances to pyramids. (Go ahead, /PROVE/ it.)
A lot of people are anxious to find proof that we came from something other than primates, or are looking for an explanation for our existance. In reality, we should accept that we are here because things happened to make it possible.
Even if a civilization existed millions of years ago, would anything exist to prove so? Some could say, "Teah, there are pyramids there!" Take a look at our own pyramids, and how much they have weathered after only a few thousand years. Imagine MILLIONS of years passing with nothing but DUST (a very excellent eroder) blowing on a daily basis.
A lot of you who "look" for hoaxes are probably the same people who look at 10 year old tobacco reports and make pay more money for cigarettes than I do for gas.
Do something useful. Anything. Set up a blog. Make a web page. Download porn. See if I care.
...but a few million years ago? Yeah, very possible. The only problem is that photos of the surface aren't going to turn up much. We need to dig on the surface, and dig deep. But even if we don't find the remains of life, who knows what else we might find? Perhaps we shouldn't be so focused on finding life and be looking to see what we can find.
I dream of a better world... one in which chickens can cross roads without their motives being questioned.
It appears to be one of those organizational senility things, just another indication that despite Challenger+Columbia, the personality of the organization re-asserts itself on its suicidal path of oblivious disregard for tell-tale signs of impending disaster. The 'crab-claw' was probably a piece of airbag that is now imbedded in the undercarriage, awaiting a crucial moment to bring the rover to a halt. Notice the latest disregard for the slippage while going up slopes? The official proclamation is that all is well now that they have decided to 'overdrive', but just wait a few days until they 'overdrive' something the wrong way. NASA needs to be shut down and re-invented, but such a sad state of affairs.