Picture of the day - January 2, 2009

Glaciers on the planet Mars

Image courtesy of NASA. Its magnificent glaciers are some of our home planet's most fascinating natural features, but apparently earth isn't the only planet in our solar system that has them. NASA scientists have long suspected that glaciers buried beneath the red planet's surface was the cause of the circular-shaped flat spots that dominate the image above, and a series of new radar images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter seem to support that theory. What this means of course is that there is a lot more water on Mars than we could have even imagined before our robotic explorers began studying the planet in detail. With frozen water covering the poles and these newly-discovered lake-sized glaciers lying buried just a short distance from the equator, there is little chance that Mars hasn't had at least some forms of life on it at some point in its history. And who knows, they could even be lurking there today!     Comment on today's picture  |  View previous "Pictures Of The Day"  |  Submit a photo Why I publish the "Picture Of The Day"