NASA reports first sighting of dry ice Martian snowfalls
18 replies, posted
[URL]http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/09/11/martian_co2_snow/[/URL]
[QUOTE]Scientists using the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have found definitive proof that flurries of carbon-dioxide snow are falling on the Martian South Pole.
"These are the first definitive detections of carbon-dioxide snow clouds," said Paul Hayne of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in [URL="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/MRO/news/mro20120911.html"]a statement[/URL]. "We firmly establish the clouds are composed of carbon dioxide - flakes of Martian air -
and they are thick enough to result in snowfall accumulation at the surface."
The seven-person team used data from the Mars Climate Sounder onboard the MRO satellite to examine the snow clouds both from above, but also from the side. The instrument scans across nine points of the visible and infrared
ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum to detect atmospheric composition.
The snow-bearing clouds were scanned during southern Mars winter in 2006-2007, when a 300-mile diameter cloud hung over the South Pole and shed its load via several smaller cloud systems. The resulting map shows exactly
where on the southern pole the carbon accumulates in flaked form.
NASA's Phoenix lander [URL="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/09/30/phoenix_martian_white_xmas/"]reported seeing water vapor[/URL] falling as snow back in 2008, although it didn’t survive reaching the Martian surface. This is the first time carbon dioxide has been spotted in solid form on the Red Planet, and
although no precise images of the flakes falling exist, the evidence it there to show them in action NASA says.
"One line of evidence for snow is that the carbon-dioxide ice particles in the clouds are large enough to fall to the ground during the lifespan of the clouds," co-author David Kass of JPL said. "Another comes from observations when
the instrument is pointed toward the horizon, instead of down at the surface."
"The infrared spectra signature of the clouds viewed from this angle is clearly carbon-dioxide ice particles and they extend to the surface. By observing this way, the Mars Climate Sounder is able to distinguish the particles in the
atmosphere from the dry ice on the surface." ®
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This makes me happy
make a snowman
[QUOTE=Disotrtion;37657460]make a snowman[/QUOTE]
[img]http://c2474752.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/2b3cab70-d992-4cbe-a05e-804e5500bce9.jpg[/img]
BEst thing I could find!
Yay Mars!
... That sounds awful... Talk about frostbite!
And those early explorers thought Earth's South Pole was cold...
Artic warfare? The bastards.
That's some [b]cool[/b] news right there!
...Yeah I'm sorry that was terrible.
[QUOTE=Katatonic717;37658167]That's some [B]cool[/B] news right there!
...Yeah I'm sorry that was terrible.[/QUOTE]
icy what you did there
[QUOTE=OogalaBoogal;37658502]icy what you did there[/QUOTE]
[i]Chill[/i] out with the puns guys
[QUOTE=OhHello;37658520]Chill out with the puns guys[/QUOTE]
If they want to pun let 'em; it's not really frost to say
I winter if this means Curiosity will have a snowday :3
makes you visualize what it would be like to celebrate Christmas on Mars... in a comfortable enough environment for that ofcourse.
These puns are snowbad I don't even want to be in this thread right now.
[QUOTE=Squad;37659441]These puns are snowbad I don't even want to be in this thread right now.[/QUOTE]
Meh, I tried making a crappy pun joke. I would instead like to say that the sighting is extremely interesting in general, especially when you visualize it.
Well at least it's a [i]dry[/i] cold.
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