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Mysterious Martian Plumes Discovered By Amateur Astronomers

An anonymous reader writes Amateur astronomers have spotted two clouds coming from the surface of Mars that are a mystery to the professionals. From Discovery: "The plumes extended over 500- to 1,000 kilometers (311- to 621 miles) in both north-south and east-west directions and changed in appearance daily. They were detected as the sun breached Mars' horizon in the morning, but not when it set in the evening. 'Remarkably ... the features changed rapidly, their shapes going from double blob protrusions to pillars or finger-plume-like morphologies,' scientists investigating the sightings wrote in a paper published in this week's Nature."

3 of 62 comments (clear)

  1. First cylinder arrives by Okian+Warrior · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...and in other news, a strange cylindrical object appears to have crash-landed in Horsell common, UK.

  2. H.G. Wells anyone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    "No one would have believed in the [second decade of the 21st century] that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water."

  3. Re: The Chances of Anything Coming From Mars by chlorinekid · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...And slowly, and surely, they drew their plans against us...