Mars Section        

 
 

Alerts and Recent Observations of the 2017-2019 Mars Apparition

Dust Storms in Early January 2019, Jan. 6, 7 and 8. Ls 321°

 
 

>Dust Storm in Early October 2018

Postscript: These dust clouds remained in the South polar regions and within a week they dissipated.

  

CO2 Ice Cap Imaged

 

The five images below show Mars with an Ls of about 128. The images from Go and Wesley from March 2016 clearly show the gray-colored CO2 seasonal ice cap in mid-winter. The maximum extent of the CO2 cap has been stated in a professional paper to approximately bisect Hellas. These two images show the edge of the CO2 ice cap to be near the Southern rim of Hellas. This indicates that the ice cap at Ls ~128 has already been sublimating. Sublimation can produce high winds from where the sublimation is present. From the 2016 images we could have predicted Clyde Foster’s 2018 images would show the gray-colored CO2 ice cap and possibly eeing dust clouds in Hellas. Clyde’s 20180206 and 20180209 images show airborne dust waves in Hellas. There aren’t dust clouds in his 0216 image. Maybe the topography is reducing wind velocity. Note, I suspect the blue-colored H2O ice fog in the 0206 image is hiding the CO2 cap. Good seeing – Jim Melka

 
 

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