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Dust Devils Scour Surface of Mars

astroengine writes "Dust devils are a well-known atmospheric phenomena on Mars, and as these new HiRISE observations show, the devilish vorticies can carve beautiful patterns in the Martian dust. What's more — in side-by-side comparisons of observations of the same Mars region years apart — it appears that the active Mars atmosphere acts like an Etch A Sketch, rubbing out the dust devils' tracks, only for the dust devils to make brand new tracks years later."

14 comments

  1. Oh, good by Minwee · · Score: 5, Funny

    So this unfortunate image should be gone before it causes anyone from NASA any embarrassment.

    1. Re:Oh, good by cultiv8 · · Score: 1

      Exactly, those damn devilish vorticies have been drawing penises for years...

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    2. Re:Oh, good by Synerg1y · · Score: 1

      While hilarious in its own right, I doubt anybody from NASA actually cares because the internet is serious business.

  2. Those are balls. by Beardydog · · Score: 1

    Yeah, they always look like a landscape this close.

    1. Re:Those are balls. by iggymanz · · Score: 1

      hah! shows what you know, the skin is too smooth; it's actually a taint

  3. Easy now by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

    "as these new HiRISE observations show, the devilish vorticies can carve beautiful patterns in the Martian dust."

    I suppose they're beautiful the same way David Spade's hairdoo is beautiful.

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  4. Canali? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martian_canal

    1. Re:Canali? by riverat1 · · Score: 1

      I was going to say that but you beat me to it. Maybe that's the source of the lines that Schiaparelli and Lowell saw.

    2. Re:Canali? by Sockatume · · Score: 1

      Those lines were on a much larger (planetary) scale. It's thought that he was actually seeing the blood vessels in his own retina, like how you can see them when an optician is examining you.

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  5. Grammar Nazism by philgp · · Score: 1

    Phenomenon: singular phenomena: plural

    1. Re:Grammar Nazism by philgp · · Score: 1

      ... and, of course, Slashdot bloody well goes and replaces the carriage return I put between "singular" and "phenomena" with a space.

    2. Re:Grammar Nazism by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That was your fault for using the HTML option instead of the plain text option, and then not previewing.

    3. Re:Grammar Nazism by philgp · · Score: 1

      I agree entirely.