Ned Potter is the science correspondent for ABC's "World News with Charles Gibson." He has reported on such topics as space exploration, the human genome and climate change.
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The Canals of Mars
March 13, 2006 5:52 PM
Percival Lowell, the man who popularized the idea that Mars had canals, would be a hundred and fifty-one years old today, and Google has taken advantage of the occasion. If you go to their site and click on their slightly-altered logo (not enter search terms), you'll be taken to www.google.com/mars, where they've posted a false-color map of the red planet, supplied to them by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and Arizona State University. The map's colors correspond to altitude: blue is low, red, orange and white are high. Zoom out and you'll see that most of Mars' northern hemisphere is bright-blue lowlands; scientists have suggested that Mars may once have had a vast northern ocean, just as the Earth, seen from the proper angle, is mostly water south of its equator.
The Mars map dates to 1999. If you want a more up-to-date tribute to Mr. Lowell, NASA has put together an animation in which you fly through Valles Marineris, a giant canyon along the Martian equator. Click HERE; then, if you have broadband, choose your preferred player.
The pictures are computer-processed from the Mars Odyssey spacecraft, which has been orbiting Mars for two years. It was NASA's most sophisticated Mars orbiter until Friday; see my post from then.
This being Mr. Lowell's birthday, it's fitting to take a closeup look at the one clearly-visible channel on Mars.
March 13, 2006 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (3)
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What a fitting and great way to commemorate Percival Lowell's birthday! Once again, I have to thank you for the fascinating links. I visited the Google link which only served to whet my appetite for the NASA animation. It was truly amazing! You were absolutely correct in stating in one of your recent blogs that NASA certainly knows how to create effective animations, whether they are based on models or on actual photos.
Posted by: chuck | Mar 14, 2006 7:54:04 AM
I concur. NASA really does some GREAT animation stuff... makes me wish I had access to that type of material when I was in college struggling through Astronomy 101! Maybe I wouldn't have given up on pursuing "the hard sciences."
Posted by: redtech5 | Mar 14, 2006 9:37:47 AM
Earth in a billion years? Maybe Venus will be ready by then.
Posted by: Lloyd Hargrove | Mar 18, 2006 11:58:54 AM
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