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APOD: 2009 October 21 -Martian Dust Devil Trails
Martian Dust Devil Trails
Credit: HiRISE, MRO, LPL (U. Arizona), NASAExplanation: Who's been marking up Mars? This portion of a recent high-resolution picture from the HiRISE camera on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows twisting dark trails criss-crossing light colored terrain on the martian surface. Newly formed trails like these had presented researchers with a tantalizing martian mystery but are now known to be the work of miniature wind vortices known to occur on the red planet - martian dust devils. Such spinning columns of rising air heated by the warm surface are also common in dry and desert areas on planet Earth. Typically lasting only a few minutes, dust devils becoming visible as they pick up loose red-colored dust leaving the darker and heavier sand beneath intact. On Mars, dust devils can be up to 8 kilometers high. Dust devils have been credited with unexpected cleanings of mars rover solar panels.
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If you are a digger please respect the submit enough to use a description. There is now no reason not to, you have it already. http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap091021.html
