Thursday, January 14, 2010

NASA Finds 'Trees' on Mars

NASA says that they are not really trees, just an optical illusion. The illusion comes from a thin trail of carbon dioxide on the surface formed from landslides as ice melted on Mars.

Picture embedded below.

Nasa photographs 'trees' on red planet

"The images appear to show rows of dark "conifers" sprouting from dunes and hills on the planet surface. But the scene is actually an optical illusion.

The photographs actually show sand dunes coated with a thin layer of frozen carbon dioxide, or dry ice, less than 240 miles from the planet's north pole.

The "trees" are really trails of debris caused by landslides as ice melts in Mars's spring. You can even see a cloud of dust, just to the left of centre of the picture, where an avalanche is caught happening.
"

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