Even though Mars is one of our closest neighbors, it’s still a planet full of mysteries. We’ve deployed plenty of robots and satellites to study the Martian surface and piece together the history of the great Red Planet.
Some research points to a past as one of a lush, possibly green paradise. Still, that doesn’t mean that every once in a while we don’t come across something that makes us stop and think, ‘is Mars really all it appears to be?’ The latest such discovery is certainly one of the weirder ones…
Amateur astronomers using Google’s Mars program that shows the surface of the Red Planet recently noticed something weird…can you spot it below?
Here’s a zoomed-in picture.
These look like giant stones that appear to somehow be sliding across the Martian surface all by themselves. According to NASA, these patterns could be caused by trickling water that forms during the Martian summer. However, the streams seen in other satellite photos only occur near slopes, while these were spotted on flat land.
Some think it’s possible that what’s shown are actually dust devil trails.
Dust devils are giant sandstorms that can rage on the Martian surface for months on end. However, their patterns (as you can see above) are erratic and never produce straight lines.
So what exactly are we seeing? Maybe it’s not such a dead planet after all.
(via Mysterious Universe)
Sadly, we’ll probably have to wait until we’re able to put human boots on Mars to figure out what these things are. Hopefully, that day will arrive sooner than we all think. To Mars!