CNN - Hubble views massive cyclone on Mars - May 19, 1999

Ralph_McCormick · March 18, 2001, 3:42am

              Click Here

MARS.mainbanner.jpg

···

** MAIN PAGE**
** WORLD**
** ASIANOW**
** U.S.**
** LOCAL**
** POLITICS**
** WEATHER**
** BUSINESS**
** SPORTS**
** TECHNOLOGY**
** computing**
** personal technology**
** space**
** NATURE**
** ENTERTAINMENT**
** BOOKS**
** TRAVEL**
** FOOD**
** HEALTH**
** STYLE**
** IN-DEPTH**

custom news
Headline News brief
daily almanac
CNN networks
CNN programs
on-air transcripts
news quiz

CNN WEB SITES:
TIME INC. SITES:
MORE SERVICES:
video on demand
video archive
audio on demand
news email services
free email accounts
desktop headlines
pointcast
pagenet

DISCUSSION:
message boards
chat
feedback

SITE GUIDES:
help
contents
search

FASTER ACCESS:
europe
japan

WEB SERVICES:

Hubble views massive cyclone on Mars

** The powerful storm can be seen to the left of Mars' north pole
**

INTERACTIVE
3-D VRML model:
• Maneuver the Hubble Space Telescope

May 19, 1999
Web posted at: 12:23 p.m. EDT (1623 GMT)

  (CNN) -- A cyclonic storm system four times the size of Texas swirled across the northern polar region of Mars last month, the Space Telescope Science Institute said Wednesday.

  The spiral storm, spotted by the Hubble Space Telescope, was composed of water ice clouds like storm systems on Earth, rather than dust typically found in Martian storms, astronomers said. The system was about 1,100 miles across, nearly three times as large as the largest previously detected Martian spiral storm system.

  Bands of clouds spiraled in a counterclockwise motion around a 200-mile (320-kilometer) wide eye in the center of the storm, taking on a shape that resembled hurricanes on Earth, astronomers said.

  The storm occurred during the summer in Mars' northern hemisphere. It came after seasonal warming evaporated the carbon dioxide ice sheet that caps the Martian north pole during part of the year.

** A color photo of the storm reveals that the storm is fairly dust-free and therefore likely composed mostly of water ice clouds**
Astronomers used a wide field planetary camera on Hubble to photograph Mars during the planet's closest approach to Earth in nearly eight years.

  Two pictures, taken six hours apart on April 27, showed that the storm moved slightly eastward. In the second picture, the storm appeared to be in the process of breaking up.

  Later pictures by the Hubble camera failed to find the storm, and astronomers said it could have been a short-lived phenomenon.

  The storm consists of at least three, and perhaps more, bands of clouds organized into a spiral structure and wrapped counterclockwise around a hollow central core or "eye."

** A closeup view of the storm has been processed to bring out additional detail in the storm's spiral cloud structures**
The smaller spiral storms seen previously by Viking were also detected during the northern summer season, and also at high northern latitudes.

  Apparently, this type of cyclonic circulation, though rare on Mars, must be related to specific climatic conditions unique to the planet's northern polar regions at this season, astronomers said.

  Similar storms, some comparable in size to the Martian storm, have been seen in Earth's polar regions.

The Associated Press
contributed to this report.

** MESSAGE BOARD:**

Destination Mars
Researchers: Mars once hummed with magnetism, like Earth
April 29, 1999
Contest will send tiny student experiment to Mars
March 25, 1999
Mars' happy face: Have a nice planet!
March 12, 1999
Space probe on track for asteroid encounter
December 16, 1998
Mars Global Surveyor - Welcome to Mars!
• Mars Global Surveyor
• MGS Movies and Pictures
Exploring Mars
** Note: Pages will open in a new browser window**

   External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.*

“ According to NASA, recent calculations have shown that the Martian atmosphere has only about one percent the density of the earth's. This contradicts other findings concerning cloud formations. Dense and very extensive clouds are often detected on Mars. Pictures of the volcano Olympus Mons have shown clouds hovering close to the summit of the mountain, which is supposed to rise 15 miles above the surrounding countryside. It is claimed that clouds are often found at an elevation of 90,000 feet! This is much higher than any water vapor and ice clouds found on the earth. The fact that they move shows that the air is sufficiently dense at such altitudes to produce winds capable of moving clouds. This indicates that Mars actually has an atmosphere denser than that of earth.

Another factor that confutes the claim of a thin atmosphere is the tremendous dust storms that often occur. Some of them dwarf any that have ever been experienced here on earth. The experts try to surmount this difficulty by assuming wind velocities of over 300 miles per hour. How sustained wind velocities of this magnitude could be achieved has never been made clear. In addition, extensive areas of fine dust necessary to produce such a condition could not exist in an atmosphere as thin as that which has been attributed to Mars.”

Ralph_McCormick · March 18, 2001, 11:47pm

CNN - Hubble views massive cyclone on Mars - May 19, 1999
Dean: The other message didn't seem to get through, but I found this spot to be very similar to the photo in Jan's book of the cloud formation that is just offset to the left of the north pole ( Ellsmere Island) area. One photo was dated taken by hubble saying the storm was first detected on April 27, 1999 and the second says the photo was taken May 19,1999. If you look real close the storm is in the same spot in both pictures. I find it very unusal for a storm to just sit in one spot! Like the Great Red Spot on Jupiter. From: Ralph

···

----- Original Message -----

From:
Dean De Lucia

To: [email protected]

Sent: Saturday, March 17, 2001 6:13 PM

Subject: [allplanets-hollow] Martian storm

Ralph,

That storm on Mars is huge. There are clouds across the whole planet. And they say that it only has 1% of the atmosphere that our planet has. It is obvious from the picture that the storm just came OUT of the depression is. In the depression, there seem to be crevice-like openings:

http://www.skyboom.com/hollowearthpuranas/index15.html

“ According to NASA, recent calculations have shown that the Martian atmosphere has only about one percent the density of the earth's. This contradicts other findings concerning cloud formations. Dense and very extensive clouds are often detected on Mars. Pictures of the volcano Olympus Mons have shown clouds hovering close to the summit of the mountain, which is supposed to rise 15 miles above the surrounding countryside. It is claimed that clouds are often found at an elevation of 90,000 feet! This is much higher than any water vapor and ice clouds found on the earth. The fact that they move shows that the air is sufficiently dense at such altitudes to produce winds capable of moving clouds. This indicates that Mars actually has an atmosphere denser than that of earth.

Another factor that confutes the claim of a thin atmosphere is the tremendous dust storms that often occur. Some of them dwarf any that have ever been experienced here on earth. The experts try to surmount this difficulty by assuming wind velocities of over 300 miles per hour. How sustained wind velocities of this magnitude could be achieved has never been made clear. In addition, extensive areas of fine dust necessary to produce such a condition could not exist in an atmosphere as thin as that which has been attributed to Mars.”

` To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[email protected]

`

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the [Yahoo! Terms of Service](http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/).

0108 · March 18, 2001, 9:52pm

CNN - Hubble views massive cyclone on Mars - May 19, 1999

···

Dean: The other message didn't seem to get through, but I found this spot to be very similar to the photo in Jan's book of the cloud formation that is just offset to the left of the north pole ( Ellsmere Island) area. One photo was dated taken by hubble saying the storm was first detected on April 27, 1999 and the second says the photo was taken May 19,1999. If you look real close the storm is in the same spot in both pictures. I find it very unusal for a storm to just sit in one spot! Like the Great Red Spot on Jupiter. From: Ralph

To: Ralph

From: Dean

I've seen lots of pics of Mars, and that storm doesn't sit there, usually. The hole in the center isprobably due to whirlwinds, or something like that.

The depression does have very wide crevices, though- miles wide. They could account for inhalation and exhalation of the inteior atmosphere.

0108 · March 18, 2001, 9:57pm

CNN - Hubble views massive cyclone on Mars - May 19, 1999
You all,

I'd like to let you all know that Meade Instruments, the largest manufacturer of telescopes in the world, is having a nice sale on its 8" wide LX50 model. For a 1,000 dollars, you get the whole telescope- tripod, tracking clock dirve, equatorial wedge and the tube itself. This is a nice price, and would set you up in observational astronomy with a medium-large scope. Nice deal.

They're on Yahoo.

Dharma/Dean

0108 · March 18, 2001, 10:07pm

CNN - Hubble views massive cyclone on Mars - May 19, 1999
Mars at its closest in June.

http://www.skypub.com/sights/moonplanets/9904marsback.html

DD

CNN - Hubble views massive cyclone on Mars - May 19, 1999

Hubble views massive cyclone on Mars

** RELATED STORIES:**

RELATED STORIES: