Saturday, June 18, 2011

PSP_005557_1755_RED.JP2 - WATER, OIL OR SOMETHING ELSE? "Juventae Chasma Mound: Potential MSL Rover Landing"

Observation Toolbox below was copied from the HiRise website for this PSP. It is incomplete on this page and does not include Longitude and other important data. The other data can be read from the HiRise website. To search for this and other PSPs, in the Search box, type in the first 4 numbers, in this case it is 5557. Then choose from whatever comes up.







Observation Toolbox
Acquisition date:03 October 2007Local Mars time:2:17 PM
Latitude (centered):-4.7 degreesLongitude (East):296.8 degrees
Range to target site:270.8 km (169.2 miles)Original image scale range:27.1 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~81 cm across are resolved
Map projected scale:25 cm/pixel and North is upMap projection:EQUIRECTANGULAR
Emission angle:12.5 degreesPhase angle:23.0 degrees
Solar incidence angle:35 degrees, with the Sun about 55 degrees above the horizonSolar longitude:324.5 degrees, Northern Winter
For non-map projected products:
North azimuth:96 degreesSub-solar azimuth:346.2 degrees
For map-projected products
North azimuth:270 degreesSub solar azimuth:161.7 degrees




abrowse.jpg - this is what the original JP2 looks like in miniature. I found the liquid areas through zooming in and out of the large file using the IASViewer that I downloaded from the HiRise website.



Copy 3C1 - shows what resembles a pipeline from high above the terrain. Above the "pipe" there appears to be a creek or river. I will call it a river to avoid repetition. There are other "pipes" in other areas of this region, as you will see.


Copy 3C2 - There appears to be 1 or 2 pipes with what may be a "pond" or pool with a reflection of the white material above it.


Copy 3C3 - This is an interesting pie-shaped rock or boulder that seems to be split into quarters with one of the quarters dug out and another part is partially excavated. Look a lot closer and you might see strange faces/heads embedded in the rock material.  


Copy 3C - On the left side of the white split rock is what appears to be a slightly wet, sandy soil. I wonder if it could be phyllosilicates (a compound that NASA is searching for on Mars).
On the right side of the rock is what appears to be a wet area full of a liquid, gel or an oily substance that flows under the sandy areas and reappears above ground elsewhere. According to scientists, H2O tends to evaporate into a gas in a CO2 atmosphere. So, this liquid might not be water, as we know it.


Copy 4 - I cannot figure out why this photo makes me think of chocolate fudge layer cake -   : -)
Toward the left side of the photo, the fudge or sandy layer is much thicker than what is covering the ground material on the right side. I am uncertain as to what the contents of the ground material might be. It looks almost like a garbage dump. All that's needed are seagulls.


Copy 5 - I call this photo, "Blue Jay Way" because it resembles a giant Blue Jay drinking from a heart-shaped pond.  How does this kind of whimsy happen on a SUPPOSEDLY barren and lifeless planet like Mars? And how does Martian geology so closely resemble earthly creatures? Hopefully, we will find the answer soon. There are other PSP photos in my other pages that have more whimsical geological formations that resemble animals.


 Copy 5A - Here I have outlined the  "Blue Jay" within a red rectangle for those who have a hard time seeing it. I am uncertain if there really is a liquid or oil in the "pond", but I believe that the dark colored area at the bottom is a part of the flow of liquid or oil coming from other areas of this region.


Copy 6 - Liquid or oil appears to be flowing from somewhere in the middle of this photo downward toward the bottom right side. The contents of the whitish areas are quite disturbing to me. I don't know if anyone else can see what I see, but it makes me think of mass graves of strange creatures. Who knows, I could be right. . .or wrong. 


Copy 8 - This, I think, shows a slightly wet sandy area on the left, and the dark area seems to be a pool of liquid or oil. I have no idea what all those wispy, whitish objects are on the right. This is a place I would not want to be at, even inside a spacesuit.


Copy 9 - This appears to be a deep liquid or oil filled pond, OR, it might be a downward slope of sandy material. It is a part of the large 2-sectioned "pond" further down from the twin peaks. Many of the strange objects that resemble wisps of white cotton seem to have faces. Look very closely with a magnifier. I have a bit of a feeling of foreboding about that wispy white substance; it almost looks like some sort of FUNGUS to me that is growing on those objects. I do hope that some Earthly fungus did not hitch a ride on a previous Rover and contaminated this area of Mars. The technicians working on the early Rovers in those early years were not, unfortunately, maintaining the scrupulously clean conditions that are used in 2011.


Copy 10A - This photo shows the liquid or oil or gelatinous substance oozing, dripping and gushing out of the ground material above. The red lines indicate where some of the liquid is coming from. The 2 "PIPES" above seem to be for the purpose of holding back the liquid from the river above the pipes. 
I was surprised that such big drops form out of the ground material in this region of Mars. There is a river above which is why this hillside is weeping liquid. It is easy to differentiate the wet from the dryer areas. The wet is darker, as on Earth.


Copy 10B - This is to the right of Copy 10A. It shows the right end of the "pipes" and more liquid falling. I don't know why the liquid appears gelatinous in this and other photos. It reminds me of pictures taken with very fast film in the old days, and how water drops appeared gelatinous. The pipes in this region do not seem to be natural to these areas. They do not blend in with the ground material or the sandy stuff. If you look above the pipes, you can see the "watermarks" or tide marks where the river meets the dry areas of the shore. The bottom of the river is dark with fallen debris. The pipes are doing a poor job of holding back the liquid, if that is the intent.


Copy 10D - I turned this photo about 90 degrees counter-clockwise to show the seeping through of the liquid or oil out of the material above it as the drops head downward. The pipes are on the left, partly embedded in the liquid.


Copy 10 - Another closeup of the liquid or oil.


Copy  12A - This photo shows what may be a pond full of the same liquid. The left side of it is the same as Copy 9. It also shows the surrounding area from a distance.


Copy 14A - Here is part of the region from a greater distance. The 2 pipes are outlined in red dots. This is such a fascinating, yet scary place. (For me, that is).


Copy 14B - I included this because on the left side of the photo, there appears (to me, that is), what could be a small village within a valley with rough terrain. It also looks like an artist has made 2 gigantic face paintings on the downward slope of a hillside. I am not going to outline what I see in red. Some will see it, but many probably will not. I am fully aware of the effects of light and shadow and have made allowances for that.
PLEASE NOTE!! I zoomed into this photo later on and discovered that I was wrong about a possible village. The faces that I saw morphed into indistinguishable natural objects the closer I zoomed in to what I thought were giant paintings or artwork. I feel a little sad about that, but it's alright. However, that does not mean that it is not there. It just means that from a certain distance above the ground, it can be seen. But the closer one gets to the target area from above, the less chance of recognizing the whole picture. That is similar to viewing crop circles in England from an airplane or satellite, and seeing it from a very low-flying balloon.


Copy 14C - This shows the area to the right of the pond. The liquid in the pond seems to be climbing a bit higher and may have exceeded the height of the pond's bank after the HiRise camera took this picture. I don't understand what geological processes have caused these various terrain in the JP2 file. I just find it so amazing, as I am sure others do also.
There seems to be a continuation of the flow of the liquid as it appears to be accumulating in pools o the right side of the photo and cascading downwards slightly, almost like a waterfall on the right front of the photo.


Copy 14E - Another view from above.


Copy 14K - This shows the left side of the 2 pipes embedded into the strange ground material, possibly to channel the liquid that is seeping out of the ground which is forming a river or a creek. Notice the glossy, gelatine-like mass just above the left end of the upper pipe.


Copy 14L1A - The blue dots show where some of the liquid is seeping from. I was going to add a duplicate of this photo, Copy 14L that doesn't have the blue dots, but I think that maybe some people may not recognize that there is liquid present here, so the blue dots will stay.


Copy 14N - This shows the wet and dry areas on and around the "twin peaks". The dry areas are lighter in color except for the reflections in the wet areas which are due to sunlight. The river runs between the peaks and the white area at the top of the photo.


Copy 14P - Closeup of the ravine between the "twin peaks". The ravine is filled with the liquid or oil which is not only coming through the ravine from the river, but the liquid is also seeping out of the peaks. The top of each peak is dry and rocky, while the sides are smooth and mostly wet. The bottom of the ravine is dark with debris that rolled downhill. I would love to know what the chemical makeup is of this liquid. Maybe someday NASA will send a Rover to this region of Mars to find out.


Copy 14R - In another area of the JP2, the red dots indicate 4 more pipes. I do not understand how the pipes came to be in this region of Mars, but I have seen at least one other pipe similar to these, but in another part of Mars in one of the photos taken by the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) that was aboard the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) prior to 2007. The MGS orbiter was lost and presumed to have crashed into Mars. The HiRise camera is superior to the MOC, in my opinion.


Copy 14Q1 - I could not complete this PSP without including this photo and the next one. It looks nightmarish to me.


Copy 14Q2 - This is to the right of the photo above this one. There is something in the far left in the photo that looks like some strange animal. A badger? A Tasmanian Devil? Wait!! I almost forgot, this is on Mars!!! But still, it IS interesting.