Welcome to Palermo's Martian Anomalies
A Study of MOC Images
Primarily I am studying the Mars archives because of my high interest in all things Mars, and secondly, I am researching images with purported dust trails to see if any proof can be gathered from these images to show that it is other than dry landslides.
In the course of looking through the catalogue, I occasionally come across weird, unexplicable images that may be just strange exotic geology as NASA states, or they may be indicators of something else going on.
As I come across these types of images I present them to an egroup I am associated with cydonia@yahoogroups.com to get other opinions and expertise. Some of these have turned out to be 'duds', poor image enhancement placed on the JPL browser pages, or on closer inspection, optical illusions. Some however are still open to conjecture.
An ear shaped formation
Two holes which are strangely placed for a caldera opening.
Is something is casting a shadow or venting?
At left is an image artifact that looks like a 'strange square', on further processing of the original image by Steve Wingate the image turned out not to have the square, but it did seem to have a 'manta' shape to it as shown by image A by Mac Tonnies. (image a,b on right)
Image B shows a Martian 'yardang' which is a wind shaped land feature.
Image A
Image B
Image that looks like a foot print or a pointing finger.
Above is a cropped image from MOC image ab103506c. It appears to be a monolithic land feature on top of a small moutain. Note the 'squarish' shadow behind it.
The Devil's Tower of Mars
The monolithic image found by Efrain Palermo in the Mars orbiter image ab103506c, appears to be a similar formation to the Devil's Tower in Wyoming, USA. The same land feature that figured prominently in the movie, "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". The earthly feature is a remnant of an ancient volcano exposed by the vigorous erosion of earth's weather. But what would cause such erosion on a dry, ancient Mars? Is it possible that this is indeed a left over artifact from a once rainy and weathering Mars? If so, it is a rarity, as most of Mars shows an absence of such vigorous past erosion. The 'monolith' has a height from it's base of apprx. 109 feet and is about 73 feet across the top. I have not as yet determined the actual height from the plain of the mountain it sits on. Is this just another geologic coincidence that happens to have a counterpart on earth, or is there more to it?
Efrain Palermo
