Digital Spacescapes By Tim Barton

2020 March 1

A Hole in Mars Image Credit: NASA, JPL, U. Arizona

Explanation: What created this unusual hole in Mars? The hole was discovered by chance in 2011 on images of the dusty slopes of Mars’ Pavonis Mons volcano taken by the HiRISE instrument aboard the robotic Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter currently circling Mars. The hole, shown in representative color, appears to be an opening to an underground cavern, partly illuminated on the image right. Analysis of this and follow-up images revealed the opening to be about 35 meters across, while the interior shadow angle indicates that the underlying cavern is roughly 20 meters deep. Why there is a circular crater surrounding this hole remains a topic of speculation, as is the full extent of the underlying cavern. Holes such as this are of particular interest because their interior caves are relatively protected from the harsh surface of Mars, making them relatively good candidates to contain Martian life. These pits are therefore prime targets for possible future spacecraft, robots, and even human interplanetary explorers.

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200301.html

During my book writing this NaNoWriMo, I came up with my own "humans are weird" concept!

You know, within a lot of stories, aliens are more advanced than us (technology). Have more senses than us (heat vision). Maybe have stronger senses than us (like hearing). But what if we have an advantage somewhere? Like maybe... We see more colors than they can?

In my book, one of my aliens cannot see the color red like the human can. I'd say she was "color blind", except this is just how all of her species see, so it's not a disability.

It's not as if she can't see red altogether, it just is a much duller color than what the human sees. Nearly brown. But it also happens to be the main color of her planet's environment.

This poses as a problem. See, her ship is red, and many of her outfits are red. These items are meant to blend in with the environment while moving across the planet.

A human visitor crashed on said planet, and our alien needs to go out to spy on then, see if they are friend or foe.

But the human, well, they sees her no matter where our alien protagonist moves. Incredibly well. Flying in over the mountains to come check on our human visitor? Human is already staring at the ship before it lands. Hiding behind a bush to observe the visitor? Human sees them immediately.

Once proper contact is made, our alien then asks about this. "Why were you always able to see me?" And the human seems confused.

"With all that bright red? I'd see you from a mile away!"

With proper research and observation, our alien comes to learn that the human sees basically a bright beacon against a dull background. But to our alien's eyes? It's all the same color.

LDN 1622, Dark Angel

Milky Way at Boddington, Western Australia

Nikon d5500 - 50mm - ISO 4000 - f/3.2 - Foreground: 7 x 15 seconds - Sky: 26 x 30 seconds - iOptron SkyTracker - Hoya Red Intensifier filter

UGC 12591: The Fastest Rotating Galaxy Known via NASA https://ift.tt/326jqJe

Jupiter’s Equator via NASA https://ift.tt/2HEWcAo

Ion Tail of Comet Swan

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Hubble Hooks a One-Arm Galaxy via NASA https://ift.tt/3bGuO2f