7/12/2016

AstronomersjustdiscoveredaMorsecodemessageinthedunesofMarsScienceAlert

Astronomers just discovered a Morse code

message in the dunes of Mars
Not aliens.
FIONA MACDONALD

11 JUL 2016

NASA has spotted a series of strange, dark dunes on Mars that look uncannily
like the dots and dashes that make up Morse code.
This isn't the rst time researchers have spotted this pattern in the sands of
Mars, but thanks to its unique topography, this dune eld - just south of the
planet's north pole - shows them in clearer detail than usual, allowing scientists
to translate the message for the rst time.
To be clear, this message is naturally formed - just like the dunes here on Earth,
the dots and dashes of the dunes were carved out by the direction of the wind.
There's no spooky alien stu at play here, promise.
As a press release from NASA explains, what makes the patterns in this dune so
prominent is the fact that it's found inside a natural circular depression, which
means there's a limited amount of sand available to be pushed around by the
local winds.
The long 'dashes' are formed by bi-directional winds, which means wind that's
travelling at right angles to the dune.
Over time, wind coming from either direction funnels the material into a long,
dark line, as you can see in the close-up image below:

http://www.sciencealert.com/astronomersjustdiscoveredamorsecodemessageinthedunesofmars

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7/12/2016

AstronomersjustdiscoveredaMorsecodemessageinthedunesofMarsScienceAlert

NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

The Martian 'dots' are ocially known as 'barchanoid dunes', and are a little
more mysterious.
Geophysicists believe they're formed when something interrupts the production
of the linear dunes - but NASA still isn't quite sure what that is, and guring it out
is part of the reason they were photographing the region.
These images were taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment
(HiRISE) camera, which is on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has
been photographing the Red Planet for the past decade.
With more observation, geophysicists are hoping that they'll be able to gure
out more about how the dunes on the surface of Mars form, and what that can
tell us about the potential habitability of the planet.
But while they're guring that out, NASA planetary scientist Veronica Bray
translated the Morse code message for Maddie Stone over at Gizmodo.
So what do the sands of Mars have to tell us? According to Bray:
NEE NED ZB 6TNN DEIBEDH SIEFI EBEEE SSIEI ESEE SEEE !!
It's very deep stu - and not intended as anything other than a bit of geophysial
fun.
But reading the sands of Mars might one day help us better understand life on
the surface of our potential future outpost, so it's worth paying attention.
H/t: Gizmodo

http://www.sciencealert.com/astronomersjustdiscoveredamorsecodemessageinthedunesofmars

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