Dust Devil Tracks
Many areas on Mars, including the Arcadia quadrangle, experience the passage of giant dust devils. A thin coating of fine bright dust covers most of the Martian surface. When a dust devil goes by it blows away the coating and exposes the underlying dark surface. Dust devils have been seen from the ground and from orbit. They have even blown dust from the solar panels of the two Rovers on Mars, thereby greatly extending their lives. The twin Rovers were designed to last for 3 months, instead they have lasted more than six years. The first Rover, Spirit, was last heard from in March 2010. Opportunity Rover is still exploring the Red Planet, after more than eight years. The pattern of the tracks have been shown to change every few months. The image below from HiRISE shows some dust devil tracks in the shape of X's. You may need to click on the image for a larger view to see the tracks clearly.
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Tantalus Fossae, as seen by HiRISE. Click on image to see dust devil tracks.
Read more about this topic: Arcadia Quadrangle
Famous quotes containing the words dust, devil and/or tracks:
“And then finally there’s your grandmother
Sweeping the dust of the nineteenth century
Into the twentieth, and your grandfather plucking
A straw out of the broom to pick his teeth.”
—Charles Simic (b. 1938)
“in your mind inwardly despise
The brittle world so full of doubleness,
With the vile flesh, and right soon arise
Out of your sleep of mortal heaviness;
Subdue the devil with grace and mekeness,”
—Stephen Hawes (1474–1528)
“The tracks of moose, more or less recent, to speak literally, covered every square rod on the sides of the mountain; and these animals are probably more numerous there now than ever before, being driven into this wilderness, from all sides, by the settlements.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)