Mars Lake Picture: First Proof of Ancient Shores Found

[tekisui]

Source: National Geographic

June 18, 2009—The first-ever shoreline discovered on Mars would be a prime place to try and dig up proof of past microbial life on the red planet, researchers have announced.

The newfound shore (seen above in an artist's rendering) lies along what was once a body of water about the size of North America's Lake Champlain (see map), said the University of Colorado at Boulder team that spotted the feature.

Although most ancient deltas on Mars have been badly eroded by winds, the new lake has been sheltered within a valley just north of the equator called Shalbatana Vallis.

Planetary geologist and lead author Gaetano Di Achille said he and his colleagues first spotted hints of the ancient lake in 2007 in sediment data from European Space Agency's Infrared Imaging Surveyor.

Now the scientists say they have "unambiguous evidence" of the well-maintained shoreline, thanks to high-resolution pictures of the region from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

The lake is thought to be just three billion years old—which would mean the region was watery 300 million years after Mars's warm, wet period is thought to have ended, the team says.

more: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/06/090618-mars-lake-proof-picture.html

[Orrex]

1. Very cool news, but the article's title is badly misleading

The title suggests that the article will actually include the photo, but instead they gave us a cheap CGI image. They should have captioned the image to disclaim that it was CGI. You or I can make an equally convincing pic on the computers we're using right now.

[tekisui]

2. Yeah, that is why I decided against posting the image.

They do say it is an artist rendering in the article, but it is misleading.

[Orrex]

3. Still, thanks for posting the link

:hi:

[shadowknows69]

4. Agree, the disclaimer on that was in the body of the story. It should have been a caption.

That said, amazing news. I wish they'd just find that final piece that would prove there was life there, even better if it was advanced, so the geocentric fundies' heads could start exploding.

[ThomWV]

5. I agree - if the evidence is "unambiguous" then let's see it

I was very disappointed in not seeing the evidence nor a link to where it might be published.