The Allan Hills are group of hills, mainly ice free and about 12 nautical miles (22 km) long, lying just north-west of the Coombs Hills near the heads of Mawson Glacier and Mackay Glacier in Oates Land and Victoria Land, Antarctica. They were mapped by the New Zealand party (1957–58) of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition and named for Professor R.S. Allan of the University of Canterbury, New Zealand.
Numerous meteorites have been discovered in these hills, which lie at the end of the Transantarctic Mountains. Amongst them is the meteorite Allan Hills 84001 which is said to originate from Mars. It has been claimed this meteorite contains evidence of Martian life in the form of micro-organisms.
Famous quotes containing the words allan and/or hills:
“To see distinctly the machinery—the wheels and pinions—of any work of Art is, unquestionably, of itself, a pleasure, but one which we are able to enjoy only just in proportion as we do not enjoy the legitimate effect designed by the artist.”
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849)
“It was the most wild and desolate region we had camped in, where, if anywhere, one might expect to meet with befitting inhabitants, but I heard only the squeak of a nighthawk flitting over. The moon in her first quarter, in the fore part of the night, setting over the bare rocky hills garnished with tall, charred, and hollow stumps or shells of trees, served to reveal the desolation.”
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