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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!"
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
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.
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.
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.
I just had a look at this page, this guy's a nutter. He's a perfect case. I just can't believe it. Arrrrgh! I'm ashamed of being a human if this guy is also called a human! (No problem, he calls himself some sort of god apparently).
Dr. Zoidberg I presume?
It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. -Frederick Douglass
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?).
...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.