Joined: Jun 25, 2006
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Location: Land o´ Lincoln
Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 6:44 am Post subject: Unusual clouds observed on Mars
From Yahoo News:
Quote:
With its thin atmosphere and scant moisture, Mars is often largely cloud-free. But new observations reveal clouds of dry ice thick enough to cast significant shadows on the red planet.
Dust storms are known to shroud vast swaths of Mars. Clouds have been photographed from the ground before, too.
The new research finds that carbon dioxide, the main component of martian air, freezes into clouds so dense they dim the sun by about 40 percent. Frozen carbon dioxide is commonly called dry ice here on Earth.
The carbon-dioxide clouds are surprisingly high, some 50 miles (80 kilometers) and are several hundred miles wide. They're thicker than expected, according to Montmessin's team.
Another surprise: the clouds are made of particles that are larger than expected. The particles are more than a micron wide (one-thousandth of a millimeter). Normally, particles of this size would not be expected to form in the upper atmosphere or to stay aloft for very long before falling back toward the surface.
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