اكتشاف «رأس فيل» على سطح المريخ .. And Now, an Elephant on Mars

اكتشاف «رأس فيل» على سطح المريخ ..




تمكنت سفينة “اوربتر” الفضائية التابعة
لوكالة الفضاء الأمريكية (ناسا) وهي في طريقها لاستكشاف الكوكب الأحمر من
التقاط صورة من سطح المريخ تظهر تكوينا على شكل وجه فيل.

وقد جاء التفسير على لسان ألفريد ماكوين ( Alfred McEwen) العالم في جامعة أريزونا للكواكب .. بأن وجه الفيل جاء نتيجة لحمم بركانية تشكلت بسرعة قبل ملايين السنوات وتمتد على مسافات شاسعة.


Ladies and gentlemen, meet the Elephant of Mars, as spotted by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

University of Arizona planetary scientist Alfred McEwen has a nice explanation of what the Elephant of Mars actually is over at the HiRISE website:

This is a good example of the phenomena "pareidolia," where we see things (such as animals) that aren't really there.
Actually, this image covers the margin of a lava flow in Elysium Planitia, the youngest flood-lava province on Mars. Flood lavas cover extensive areas, and were once thought to be emplaced extremely rapidly, like a flood of water.

Most lava floods on Earth are emplaced over years to decades, and this is probably true for much of the lava on Mars as well. An elephant can walk away from the slowly advancing flow front. However, there is also evidence for much more rapidly flowing lava on Mars, a true flood of lava. In this instance, maybe this elephant couldn't run away fast enough.






meet the Elephant of Mars