9/10/2002: Mars dust devil

A few weeks back we had a nice shot of a set of dust devils. Now the Astronomy Pic of the Day shows us that dust devils also occur on MARS.

Astronomers would sometimes notice new dark trails on the surface. Finally they figured out that these were left by dust devils, and in this shot there is actually a dust devil - on top there, climbing that incline. Martian dust devils can be up to 8 kilometers high. Damn.

High-resolution image of the source is now available

Damn. That's fascinating. I would have thought the Martian atmosphere was too thin to support whirlwinds.

It also must mean that there must be considerable non-circular wind on Mars, because if there weren't, the planet would be covered with dust devil tracks, like the one in the picture. Something must be sweeping them away on a regular basis.

Originally posted by Slithy_Tove
Damn. That's fascinating. I would have thought the Martian atmosphere was too thin to support whirlwinds.

It also must mean that there must be considerable non-circular wind on Mars, because if there weren't, the planet would be covered with dust devil tracks, like the one in the picture. Something must be sweeping them away on a regular basis.

Actually, I think that dark trail is a shadow from the dust devil, not a track left behind by it's movement (which shows just how tall it is)

Originally posted by jaxomlotus


Actually, I think that dark trail is a shadow from the dust devil, not a track left behind by it's movement (which shows just how tall it is)

i might be looking at the image differently from you, but it appears to me that the light source is coming from the wrong direction for that to be a shadow. it looks like a track to me.

~james

edit:
maybe not, i see now what youre referring to. dont mind me.