Space observers are reacting to news of an unexpected discovery of water frost near Mars’ tallest volcano, Olympus Mons. The mountain is the largest in the solar system and is part of the Tharsis region around the equator of Mars. Equipment operated by the European Space Agency on Mars first discovered evidence of water frost, and a study of the findings has been published in Nature Geoscience.
“We think it’s impossible for frost to form around the Martian equator because the mix of sunlight and the thin atmosphere keeps temperatures on the surface and mountaintops relatively high – unlike what we see on Earth, where you might see Frosty peaks,” said researcher Adomas Valantinas, praising the discovery.
This image shows Olympus Mons, the tallest volcano not only on Mars but also in the entire solar system. It was captured by the High-Resolution Stereo Camera on ESA’s Mars Express as part of new research, revealing for the first time water frost near the Martian equator – where frost was thought to be impossible.
The discovery is surprising given the region’s thin atmosphere and temperatures, but has huge implications: It could help determine whether liquid water exists on Mars, how it exists, and how it interacts with the atmosphere. Future missions to Mars, including manned ones, could benefit from this discovery.
Scientists have also long looked to Mars to see what it can teach us about planetary evolution. For example, researchers suggest that the Red Planet may have once had a more habitable and temperate climate where water could flow freely. Discoveries about Mars could provide insights that could help understand the impact of human-induced climate change on Earth.
On sites like Reddit, eye-catching images of purple and blue splotches around the mountain dazzled online commenters, who were dazzled by the mountain’s height (“24 kilometers high, three times the height of Mount Everest,” one user wrote) and was surprised by the significance of this discovery.
Other posters joked about the images that resembled parts of human anatomy (“Can you please flag this as NSFW? Some of us are browsing with kids around here and they don’t need to see the Martian business in public.”) or Post memes.
