Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Judi Lynn

(162,374 posts)
Fri Jul 5, 2024, 11:36 PM Jul 2024

Grand Canyon-size 'scar' on Mars revealed like never before in striking new satellite photos

By Harry Baker published 12 hours ago

New photos from the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter give us our best look yet at a giant ravine on the Red Planet. The dark "scar" was likely birthed by a gigantic blob of magma hidden beneath a massive nearby volcano millions of years ago.



A satellite photo of mars with a massive, curved crack in its surface
The giant "scar," known as Aganippe Fossa, is around 375 miles long from end to end. (Image credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin)


A satellite orbiting Mars has captured the best-ever images of a gigantic "scar" carved across the Red Planet's surface.
The dark ravine, which is accompanied by unusual zebra-like stripes, is likely the result of extreme volcanic activity millions of years ago.

The striking surface feature, named Aganippe Fossa, is a graben — a "ditch-like groove with steep walls on either side," according to the European Space Agency (ESA). Astronomers first spotted it as early as 1930 but only officially named it in 1976, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The graben is incomplete, with various breaks in the groove from end to end, but it is considered to be a single structure that stretches around 375 miles (600 kilometers). That is longer than the Grand Canyon, which is 277 miles (446 km) from one end to the other, according to the National Park Service. However, the structure is still significantly shorter than Mars' Valles Marineris — the largest canyon in the solar system, which runs for more than 2,500 miles (4,000 km) along the Red Planet's equator.

ESA's Mars Express orbiter captured the newly released photos on December 13, 2023. The satellite has been circling the Red Planet on an elliptical orbit for more than two decades.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/space/mars/grand-canyon-size-scar-on-mars-revealed-like-never-before-in-striking-new-satellite-photos

4 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Grand Canyon-size 'scar' on Mars revealed like never before in striking new satellite photos (Original Post) Judi Lynn Jul 2024 OP
Heiroglyphs on the left side? BComplex Jul 2024 #1
I see what you mean NJCher Jul 2024 #3
Thank you for your intelligent posts. love_katz Jul 2024 #2
Sometimes it seems the night is going to swallow us all! Amazingly bleak, occasionally ! Judi Lynn Jul 2024 #4

love_katz

(2,799 posts)
2. Thank you for your intelligent posts.
Fri Jul 5, 2024, 11:48 PM
Jul 2024

Your posts are the antidotes that I need to remind myself that intelligence still lives. With all the idiocy being posted, your subjects are soothing and healing.

Judi Lynn

(162,374 posts)
4. Sometimes it seems the night is going to swallow us all! Amazingly bleak, occasionally !
Sat Jul 6, 2024, 08:30 AM
Jul 2024

Fortunately, something will remind you just in time that there is still a very huge world of people left who are not
going to stop their progress, regardless. They have always been there, keeping a higher realm working for us, in spite of all efforts to wreck it all.

It's a perfect time to gain access to something like the Internet(S)! (The Republican Senator Ted Stevens from Alaska did explain to us during the Bush years that the Web is all a "series of tubes" which made it all so much easier to understand!)

Your post was deeply kind, love katz, more than you would imagine. It came at a time which really touched me. Very unexpected. Thank you, so much.

Latest Discussions»Culture Forums»Science»Grand Canyon-size 'scar' ...