I don’t normally provide updates that don’t include observations, but I wanted to say thanks to Alan Boyle for following up on the Mars cloud and posting an update on the phenomena on MSNBC’s Cosmic Log today. Luckily, the current opinion of the leading expert on Mars’ atmosphere, Bruce Cantor a the Malin Space Science Institute, came to the conclusion that the phenomena is a high-altitude water-condensate cloud, just as I posted with the initial report on this. Score one for good guesses. While it isn’t “case closed” on this, as many researchers are still studying the event, we at least have a pretty good idea what it was.
He ran the original story on the cloud last week.
Click here for the original story on MSNBC
and for those of you who follow Alan’s Cosmic Log Facebook page, reading this site would have given you the answer to this week’s “Where in the Cosmos” puzzle! This week’s puzzle quizzed users as to the identity of the four dark spots in my Mars image from March 28. Of course, he had to cut-out the text to avoid making it too easy.
Thanks, Alan!
Wayne J.
