APOD 20091021 Martian Dust Devil Trails

来源：APOD

Who's been marking up Mars? This portion of a recent high-resolution picture from the HiRISE camera on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows twisting dark trails criss-crossing light colored terrain on the martian surface. Newly formed trails like these had presented researchers with a tantalizing martian mystery but are now known to be the work of miniature wind vortices known to occur on the red planet - martian dust devils. Such spinning columns of rising air heated by the warm surface are also common in dry and desert areas on planet Earth. Typically lasting only a few minutes, dust devils becoming visible as they pick up loose red-colored dust leaving the darker and heavier sand beneath intact. On Mars, dust devils can be up to 8 kilometers high. Dust devils have been credited with unexpected cleanings of mars rover solar panels.

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说句实话S兄，我真没看出来那是啥玩意儿！

北京天文馆的翻译
http://www.bjp.org.cn/apod/today.htm

火星尘埃暴掠过

                               
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影像提供：HiRISE, MRO, LPL (U. Arizona), NASA

说明：
谁在火星上留下了痕迹？这张由火星资源探测器HiRISE相机最近拍摄的高清晰影像显示了扭曲的黑暗轨迹交叉回绕在火星表面浅色的地形间。类似这样新形成的轨迹让正着眼于探究神秘火星的研究者们了解到在这颗红色的星球上存在着小型的暴风涡流，那就是火星尘埃暴。就像这样的旋转气柱是气体经过温暖表面上升而成，类似于地球上干燥沙漠地区一样。尘埃风暴持续了仅仅数分钟，当风把稀疏的红色尘埃吹起留下了颜色较深、较重的沙土在下方时，尘埃风暴变得可见。在火星上，尘埃风暴能够达到8公里高。尘埃风暴让火星探测器上的太阳能电池板异常干净。

有些像布艺画！