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Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Vastitas Borealis Baby!!!

This image, one of the first captured by NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander, shows the vast plains of the northern polar region of Mars. The flat landscape is strewn with tiny pebbles and shows polygonal cracking, a pattern seen widely in Martian high latitudes and also observed in permafrost terrains on Earth. The polygonal cracking is believed to have resulted from seasonal freezing and thawing of surface ice. Phoenix touched down on the Red Planet at 4:53 p.m. Pacific Time (7:53 Eastern Time), May 25, 2008, in an arctic region called Vastitas Borealis, at 68 degrees north latitude, 234 degrees east longitude.

3 comments:

Abbzug said...

looks like my backyard. seriously.

Ribhard said...

Hell I wish my back yard in florida looked that good!!!

P-Lou said...

"Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kid..."