January 13, 2012
Credits: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona - Credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga/Lunar Explorer Italia/IPF
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This frame shows a small portion of a (in a way) "controversial" Surface Feature known as "Inca City". The nick-name is probably related to the appearance of this really big and complex geological feature that, when observed from above, seems to remind the ancient South American Inca ruins. "Inca City", in fact, is the informal name given by Mariner 9 Scientists in 1972 to a set of intersecting, rectilinear Ridges that are located among the Layered Materials (i.e.: Deposits) of the South Polar Regions of Mars. Their origin has never been fully understood; most investigators thought they might be just huge Sand Dunes, either recent or, more likely, extremely ancient Dunes that were buried, hardened and then exhumed. Others considered these bizarre-looking Surface Features to be "Dikes", formed by injection of molten rock (such as Magma) or soft sediment into the subsurface cracks that, subsequently, hardened and then (in eons) were exposed again at the Surface, throughout Aeolian (wind) Erosion. The Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) has provided new information about the "Inca City" Ridges, though the camera's images still do not solve the mystery. Many new information comes in the form of a MOC red wide angle context frame taken in Mid-Southern Spring. Said MOC image showed that the "Inca City" Ridges, located at approx. 82° South Latitude and at about 67° West Longitude (such as 293° East Longitude), are part of a larger Circular Structure that is about 86 Km (approx. 53 mi) across. It is possible that this pattern reflects an origin related to an ancient, eroded meteor Impact Crater that was filled-in, buried, then partially exhumed. In this case, the Ridges might be the remains of filled-in fractures in the bedrock into which the Crater formed, or filled-in cracks within the material that filled the Crater. But it is obvious, also, that both the above explanations could be wrong! While the new MOC images shows that "Inca City" has a larger context as part of a circular form, it does not reveal the exact origin of these striking and unusually-looking Martian Landforms. Now, with the beautiful and extremely detailed pictures taken by the NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (like this one, showing some amazing Surface Features known as "Spiders"), more doors for new hypothesis and speculations were opened but, and at least so far, a totally (and well scientifically-based) explanation of the Ridges forming and, in fact, defining the "Inca City" has not been given. What seems one-hundred-percent sure, though, is that we are looking, once again, at a "gift" from Mother Nature. This meaning that the "Inca City" Ridges DO NOT SHOW NOR REPRESENT in any way the remnants of any artificial construction built on the Red Planet. Frame Information Acquisition date: 24 May 2011 Local Mars Time: 15:16 (Early Afternoon) Latitude (centered): 81,4° South Longitude (East): 295,8° Range to target site: 249,3 Km Original image scale range: 24.9 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~75 cm across are resolved Map projected scale: 25 cm/pixel Map projection: POLAR STEREOGRAPHIC Emission Angle: 7,4° Phase Angle: 67,1° Solar Incidence Angle: 62° (meaning that the Sun was about 28° above the Local Horizon at the time the picture was taken Solar Longitude: 298,1° (Northern Winter) This frame has been colorized in Absolute Natural Colors (such as the colors that a human eye would actually perceive if someone were onboard the Orbiter and then looked down towards the Surface of Mars), by using an original technique created - and, in time, dramatically improved - by the Lunar Explorer Italia Team. |
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