Has the mystery of the Mars 'Monolith' been solved?


By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 9:47 PM on 04th August 2009



An image of what appears to be a mysterious rocky monument on Mars has excited space junkies around the world.

The 'monolith', was snapped from 165miles away using a special high resolution camera on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

After being published on the website Lunar Explorer Italia, it set tongues wagging with space buffs questioning whether there was once life on the Red Planet.
Enlarge Mars Monolith

Close, closer, closest: The Mars 'monolith' was recently spotted (above) in a satellite HiRISE image
mars

From further away: The circled area show where the rectangular feature, described by scientists as a boulder, was discovered

But scientists at the University of Arizona, who captured the original image, reckon it's just an unremarkable boulder, which could measure up to five metres across.

Yisrael Spinoza, a spokesman for the HiRISE department of the university's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, gave Mail Online the original image so readers can make up their own minds.

He said: 'It would be unwise to refer to it as a "monolith" or "structure" because that implies something artificial, like it was put there by someone for example.
rectangular boulder

The original image supplied to Mail Online by the University of Arizona showing a close up of the boulder from a different angle

'In reality it's more likely that this boulder has been created by breaking away from the bedrock to create a rectangular-shaped feature.'

The image seems to resemble the black monolith that appears during key moments of man's evolution in the Stanley Kubrick film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The original image, taken last July, was published again this week on the University of Arizona's HiRISE website on the 'spotlight' page which seems to have led to the renewed interest.

'Is it possible that there used to be an ancient civilization on Mars?' former Montreal radio presenter David Tyler asked on his blog.

'Is it possible that NASA already knows the answer? Could this be the final straw for disclosure?'
monolith

The black monolith appears at turning points of the film 2001: A Space Odyssey directed by Stanley Kubrick
Phobos monolith
Buzz Aldrin, pictured here in his Apollo space suit

A monolith found on Phobos (l) was described recently by Buzz Aldrin, pictured here in his Apollo space suit

But speaking about the satellite picture scientist Alfred McEwen, the principal investigator from the University of Arizona's HiRISE department, said: 'There are lots of rectangular boulders on Earth and Mars and other planets.

'Layering from rock deposition combined with tectonic fractures creates right-angle planes of weakness such that rectangular blocks tend to weather out and separate from the bedrock.'

Fuel was added to the flames after Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the Moon, alluded to a similar monolith detected on Mars' moon Phobos.

Speaking on a U.S. cable television channel last week he said: 'We should visit the moons of Mars.

'There's a monolith there - a very unusual structure on this little potato shaped object that goes around Mars once every seven hours.
mars

An image sent by the Viking spacecraft in 1976 seemed to show a human-like face on the surface of Mars

'When people find out about that they are going to say, "Who put that there? Who put that there?" Well the universe put it there, or if you choose God put it there.'

In 2007 the Canadian Space Agency funded a study for an unmanned mission to Phobos known as PRIME (Phobos Reconnaissance and International Mars Exploration).

The building-sized monolith is the main proposed landing site but not because scientists suspect UFO activity. They believe the object is a boulder exposed relatively recently in an otherwise featureless area of the asteroid-like moon.

PRIME investigator Dr Alan Hildebrand said it could answer questions about the http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=5262941066064845770moon's composition and history.


http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu

http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_009342_1725

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1204254/Has-mystery-Mars-Monolith-solved.html

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Opportunity Mars'ta göktaşı buldu

İngiliz Daily Mail gazetesinin haberine göre, Kızıl Gezegen'in yörüngesindeki Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter'ın (MRO) özel yüksek çözünürlüklü kamerasıyla 270 kilometre uzaklıktan geçen yıl çektiği ve yeni yayınlanan görüntülerdeki dikilitaş biçimli kaya, uzayla ilgilenenler arasında heyecan yarattı.

Monolit biçimli gizemli taş ilk bakışta anlaşılmazken, Lunar Explorer Italia adlı bir internet sitesi, bir bölgeye zum yaptıktan sonra uzun gölgesi bulunan tuhaf dörtköşe yapıyı ortaya çıkardı.

''2001: Uzay Macerası'' filminin kilit sahnelerindeki siyah dikilitaşı hatırlatan monolit taşla ilgili eski Montreal radyo programcısı olan David Tyler, blogunda, ''Mars'ta eskiden bir uygarlık mümkün mü? Nasa'nın bunun yanıtını biliyor olması olası mı? Bu yakınlaşma için bir işaret mi?'' diye sordu.

Ay'da yürüyen ikinci insan Buzz Aldrin de geçen hafta bir televizyon programında, ''Mars'ın aylarını ziyaret etmeliyiz. Mars'ın çevresinde 7 saatte bir dönen Phobos'ta patates biçimli alışılmadık bir yapı bir dikilitaş var. Kim koydu bunu oraya?'' demişti.

-KIZIL GEZEGEN'DE GÖKTAŞI-

Öte yandan, NASA'nın Mars'taki çalışkan ikiz robotlarından Opportunity, Kızıl Gezegen'de şimdiye dek bulunan en büyük göktaşı olduğu sanılan büyük bir kaya parçası keşfetti.

NASA'nın Pasadena'daki Jet Motorları Laboratuvarı'ndan yapılan açıklamada, 60 santimetre genişliğindeki kayanın kimyasal bileşimini anlamak için Opportunity'nin spektrometresiyle yaptığı incelemede, bunun bir meteorit (göktaşı parçası) olduğu ve robotun 1 yıl boyunca incelediği 800 metre genişliğindeki Victoria Krateri'nin oluşumuna yol açan göktaşının bir parçası olabileceği kaydedildi.

http://www.haber7.com/haber/20090804/Opportunity-Marsta-goktasi-buldu.php