Enhanced-colour image, showing a water-ice cliff, or scarp, on Mars, taken with the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The exposed ice is shown in blue dropping about 80 metres from the level ground in the upper third of the image. (Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UA/USGS) – click to enlargeWater ice deposits have been found in cliff-like structures known as ‘scarps’ at eight different sites on Mars, using the HiRISE camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
It has previously been shown that there is shallow ground ice under roughly a third of the Martian surface, detected with spectrometers and ground-penetrating radar from orbiting spacecraft. The exposed faces of these scarps provide us with a cross-sectional view though this ice, which is over 100 metres thick in some places. Continue reading →
The trajectory of Oumuamua 1I/2017 U1 through our Solar System (credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech) – click to enlarge
On 19 October 2017, an astronomer at the Haleakala Observatory, Hawaii, spotted an object passing through our solar system on an unusual hyperbolic trajectory. The strange cigar-like shape of the object lead some to speculate that it could be the product of an extraterrestrial civilization. Continue reading →
