NASA catches, through a probe, 'atypical' sand dunes on Mars

The US space agency, NASA, recently released images of an “atypical” formation on the surface of the planet Mars. They are simply almost perfectly circular sand dunes. Understand below the reason for these atypical formations on mars.

Almost perfectly circular formations on the surface of Mars

Although it is not uncommon to find news on Mars, there are certain mounds of sand of varying sizes and shapes on the planet. The photo, which was captured by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) probe in November 2022, in the year past, ended up surprising scientists a lot by its appearance especially different from the habitual.

Although these dunes may be slightly asymmetrical, not completely perfect, these mounds were found in a region around dunes that were much more imperfect with some irregularity. They were located near a crater on Utopia Planitia, in the northern hemisphere of the planet.

Photo: NASA.

Sand dunes on Mars

The variety of shapes and textures on the surface of Mars is a phenomenon that has always attracted the attention of scientists.

The image of the sand dunes is part of a series of images from a project that monitors how the end of winter influences these formations on the planet.

According to Alfred McEwen, a planetary geologist at the University of Arizona and part of the research, the steep areas at the southern extremities of the circular dunes on Mars indicate that the mounds were formed by winds that at this time of the Martian year generally move to the east. south.

This area with the sand dunes on the planet Mars represents just one of the 60 places currently monitored by the MRO and its HiRISE camera.

From collecting repeated observations of dunes on Mars over the course of the Martian year (which lasts 687 Earth days). You scientists planetary systems are able to monitor the movement speed of the winds that form these dunes.

That's how they discovered that the dunes have advanced about a meter from the equator to the planet's poles.

As for the variation in shapes and sizes of sand dunes, meteorological aspects of Mars were revealed: while MRO examined the Lyot Crater on Mars in 2010, HiRISE images showed that the crater's relief created a certain type of channel that directed the winds.