ozman Posted January 18, 2013 #1 Share Posted January 18, 2013 (edited) A team of scientists from the European Space Agency have reportedly discovered an ancient riverbed on Mars, which is just the latest piece of evidence to support the theory that water once flowed across the Martian surface. The photos were taken last year, and were released late on Thursday by the ESA. ESA officials made the announcement on Thursday that they have discovered an ancient riverbed carved into the Red Planet's surface. The images were taken by the ESA's Mars Express, and have left astronomers around the world stunned as this may be the most definitive evidence to date that supports the theory that water once flowed on Mars. http://www.cleveland....com/node/19890 Edited January 18, 2013 by ozman 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waspie_Dwarf Posted January 18, 2013 #2 Share Posted January 18, 2013 I'm afraid the title of this thread and the article linked to in the original post are misleading. ESA haven't "discovered" this dried river bed. It has been known about for years. What ESA has done is release better resolution images than have been available before which further strenghten the theory that it was carved by water (ESA story here: Reull Vallis: a river ran through it). The ESA article does not claim this as a discovery, and nor could it, it has been imaged by other spacecraft before, for example THIS IMAGE from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter taken in 2007, or THIS IMAGE taken by Mars Odyssey in 2011 Nor is the fact that this feature was probably carved by water a new discovery. THIS ABSTRACT from 2001 describes the Reull Vallis as a fluvial feature. A fluvial feature is one associated with rivers and streams. The article illustrates why I try, whenever possible, to quote and link to original press releases, not main stream news stories. The media does not report science stories very well, sensationalising and misreporting what the scientists actually said. Unfortunately it is usually the scientist that get the blame when sloppy journalism is the true culprit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozman Posted January 19, 2013 Author #3 Share Posted January 19, 2013 Waspie man is correct, I've been hearing of river beds found on mars for years and years so it should be accepted that mars once had water and oceans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DONTEATUS Posted January 20, 2013 #4 Share Posted January 20, 2013 We pretty much know that Mars had water on it,THe question will be what mechanism lead to its evaporation? Magnetic shift,Solar Radiation,could of been just ithe imbalance of elements in the air ect. We shall soon now I think. Keep Looking Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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