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What's it like to look down a 5-mile-deep canyon? You can't do that on Earth, but you can get a sense of how it feels on the Red Planet, thanks to 3-D imagery from the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter.
Today ESA released imagery of Melas Chasma, a section of Mars' huge Valles Marineris canyon system. The floor of Melas Chasma sinks more than five and a half miles (9 kilometers) below the surrounding plains, which makes the bottom of the canyon one of the lowest spots on the planet. The high-resolution imagery shows ample evidence that water once flowed down those crater walls and through the valley. You can see channels, landslides, jumbled debris and levees of sediment.
"The rocks display flow textures indicating that they were once deposited by liquid water, water ice or mud," ESA says in today's image advisory.
So what happened to all that water? Much of it was lost during billions of years of climate change and geological upheaval. Much is thought to be locked up in polar ice caps or subsurface ice. Some may still exist in liquid form, deep underground. The best way to look for traces of Martian life could well be to go to the bottom of valleys such as Melas Chasma ... and dig even deeper.
The picture above is a stereo image, created by combining two image channels from Mars Express' High Resolution Stereo Camera. Here's a bigger view. To get the 3-D effect, you have to look at the picture through red-blue glasses. You should be able to find 3-D specs at party stores, novelty stores or from a variety of vendors. You can make your own glasses. Heck, you can make your own 3-D pictures as well. Here's a portrait of yours truly that my colleague at msnbc.com, John Brecher, snapped as as experiment:
John Brecher / msnbc.com
Whip out your 3-D glasses to get a fresh perspective on Cosmic Log's proprietor.
I've also received a fresh crop of free 3-D glasses from Microsoft Research's WorldWide Telescope team. (Microsoft and NBC Universal are the partners behind the msnbc.com joint venture.) I'll send a pair to the first 25 people to leave a request on the wall of Cosmic Log's week-old Facebook page.
If you haven't clicked the "Like" button for Facebook yet, please do so. It's the next-best thing to the log itself. Oh, and feel free to follow @b0yle on Twitter as well.
More 3-D goodness:
Leave a Comment:
Thanks to all the folks who requested 3-D glasses. I've given away the current batch, but I'll be getting more from the WorldWide Telescope folks and will let you know about the next giveaway. By the way, you can also use the glasses to see stereo images in the WorldWide Telescope database ... which is why WWT is giving away the specs.
The 3d is awesome! have no glasses but think this pretty good. I think there should be a list of all the telescopes, satelites, observors, and the like. they should make it real easy to find. I like to spend hours just studying the images and refining my science. Is there a free progam that could render 3d images automatically? i know a guy with a round screen that wraps around him and it is 3d.
The 3d is awesome! Have no glasses but think this pretty good. I think there should be a list of all the telescopes, satellites, observers, and the like. They should make it real easy to find. I like to spend hours just studying the images and refining my science. Is there a free program that could render 3d images automatically? I know a guy with a round screen that wraps around him and it is 3d.
Free 3d glasses?
Thanks Alan for the 3-d glasses from the last giveaway. They sure makes a fashion statement but I can't get them to work when I go out. LOL . They do a great job on here though. But now how do I get the 3-d image of you out of my head. Once again THX
Guy
Alan,
Thanks for the interesting image and thoughts. I have a question. Obviously fdgfgn22 and sadsfgg11 are the same person and I'm afraid my curiosity regarding what this person did to get deleted is just too great.
Please do not misunderstand, I am not questioning your decision to delete them in any way. I'm just a naturally curious person and I can't imagine what comment, relevant to the article above, would merit being deleted. It must of been pretty offensive.
Just curious, have a great day.
Skip
Here's a question for the scientists out there. The atmospheric pressure on Mars is thin, but what about the atmospheric pressure at the bottom of this depression? Wouldn't it be like comparing the pressure from sea level to the top of Mount Everest here on earth? You can't survive at the top of Everest without an oxygen bottle. I haven't heard anybody mentioning that if there is a chance of life on Mars, wouldn't down at the bottom of these canyons be the place to start looking? The other question is, wouldn't the space suits needed for Mars be different at the bottom of these canyons?
Being a packrat, I save all the red/green 3D glasses from old DVDs and books, ads, etc; so I have lots of the. But, they don't all work, some of the reds and greens are not compatible. Having done research in Variable Stars in grad school, I used a blink comparitor. Then, I had to use a 3d converter in stereograms. I learned the "cross-your-eyes-trick" and now I can't stop seeing the 3d effect! Keep it up; the pix are GREAT!