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Mysterious Martian Plumes Discovered By Amateur Astronomers

Posted by samzenpus on from the mars-needs-bbq dept.

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."

4 of 62 comments (clear)

  1. The Chances of Anything Coming From Mars by cirby · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...are a Million to One.

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

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

  2. 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.

  3. Meteor, anyone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Why isn't anyone saying a strike by large scale meteor with a companion meteor? That would certainly kick up a couple plumes of that size.

    Any of the devices we have at location able to report seismic activity for something of that order?