NASA's Phoenix Lander Sees, Feels Martian Whirlwinds in Action

[n2doc]

TUCSON, Ariz. -- NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has photographed several dust devils dancing across the arctic plain this week and sensed a dip in air pressure as one passed near the lander.

These dust-lofting whirlwinds had been expected in the area, but none had been detected in earlier Phoenix images.

The Surface Stereo Imager camera on Phoenix took 29 images of the western and southwestern horizon on Sept. 8, during mid-day hours of the lander's 104th Martian day. The next day, after the images had been transmitted to Earth, the Phoenix science team noticed a dust devil right away.

"It was a surprise to have a dust devil so visible that it stood with just the normal processing we do," said Mark Lemmon of Texas A&M University, College Station, lead scientist for the stereo camera. "Once we saw a couple that way, we did some additional processing and found there are dust devils in 12 of the images."

At least six different dust devils appear in the images, some of them in more than one image. They range in diameter from about 2 meters (7 feet) to about 5 meters (16 feet).

more:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/news/phoenix20080911.html

[grannie4peace]

1. that's cool :):):)

[Greg K]

2. Hope none of them hit Phoenix. nt

[ramapo]

3. Amazing technology

The things that we can do despite pissing away billions killing people.