Science is beginning to understand the origin of a curious 1,800 km long cloud Mars It appears daily during some of the warmer months on one of the largest volcanoes on the red planet.
Until now, it has been difficult to observe this cloud initially photographed by a Russian probe in the 1970s and located by the European spacecraft in 2018. Mars Express, the European Space Agency (THIS
But a scientific team resorted to “a secret tool Mars Express from Marsshouted a security camera “VMC”, stated Jorge Hernández Bernal, of the University of the Basque Country in Bilbao (Spain), in a statement from the THIS
All thanks to a webcam
With a resolution equal to that of a simple webcamwas this camera in 2003 shortly after the launch of Mars ExpressLater it was used sporadically for educational operations.
But unlike the probe’s much more advanced scientific instruments, it is the camera VMC has “a wide field of view (…) and is well adapted to follow the evolution of the cloud phenomenon,” said Bernal, confirming a study on the issue in the Journal of Geophysical Research.
The observation revealed that during the spring and summer in Mars’ southern hemisphere, the cloud of Mars it forms every sunrise on the flank of the volcano Arsia Mons.
Composed of water vapor and ice crystals, the cloud with the first rays rises to about 40 km in height, well above 17 km from the old volcano. The wind stretches it to the west at a speed of 600 km / h, to a length of 1,800 km.
The phenomenon does not last more than two and a half hours before it spreads.
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