mirrored file at http://SaturnianCosmology.Org/ For complete access to all the files of this collection see http://SaturnianCosmology.org/search.php ========================================================== Posted on *04/24/2005 8:18:25 PM PDT* by *SunkenCiv* Jafar Arkani-Hamed of McGill University discovered that five impact basins--dubbed Argyre, Hellas, Isidis, Thaumasia and Utopia--form an arclike pattern on the Martian surface. Three of the basins are well-preserved and remain visible today. The locations of the other two, in contrast, were inferred from measurements of anomalies in the planet's gravitational field... a single source--most likely an asteroid that was initially circling the sun in the same plane as Mars--created all five craters. At one point the asteroid passed close to the Red Planet... and was broken apart by the force of the planet's gravity. The resulting five pieces subsequently slammed into Mars along its then equator. The center of the circle inscribed by the five craters, which marks the planet's ancient south pole, lies at present day latitude -30 and longitude 175. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ To: *blam; FairOpinion; Ernest_at_the_Beach; StayAt HomeMother; SunkenCiv; 24Karet; 3AngelaD; ...* This is a GGG ping, for "Astronomy and Catastrophism". The graphic in comment #1 is a bit of trick I've played. It comes from a paper published in 1991 (however, it was first published in /KRONOS/ in 1985), "The Scars of Mars", by Donald W. Patten. The website on which it appears is a little creepy, but Patten's general idea is the same as seen in this new paper -- that a single, large impactor reached its Roche point during terminal descent, shattered, and smashed into the planet, forming a number of craters. This new paper puts the number at five, Patten attributes the formation of the "Hemisphere of Craters" to this single event, with the remaining craters having formed more or less uniformly over a much longer span of time. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ To: *KevinDavis; Swordmaker; HAL9000* Images reveal 'sea of ice' near Mars' equator Associated Press | Feb 26, 2005 Posted on 02/26/2005 4:02:49 AM PST by FYREDEUS http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1351506/posts "The point is that the ice is very recent: it appears to still be there, covered beneath a layer of dust and ash," John Murray of Britain's Open University said in a telephone interview. */The Scars of Mars / by Donald W. Patten January 1991* /It is to be noted that all 15 of the largest craters of Mars are in the Hemisphere of Craters. It is also noteworthy that the massive lava outflows of Argyre, Hellas, and Isidis undoubtedly have spread and occluded a certain significant number of craters Thus our figure of 3068 craters 20 miles and larger in diameter has been masked by these lava outflows; the original figure was even larger before lava flow and before larger craters occluded some smaller ones. If there is a shift from our Table III, therefore, it will probably be in the direction of an even greater extreme. And the 7 percent crater count in the Opposite Hemisphere may in fact be somewhat larger than the original impact situation./ To: *SunkenCiv* Ooooookay. What tipped Mars off its' then axis? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ To: *null and void* It may have been the impacts. Naturally, the only thing the article is concerned with is whether there's any water on Mars. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ To: *null and void; Notforprophet* Giant Impact Basins Trace the Ancient Equator of Mars Jafar Arkani-Hamed Earth and planetary sciences, McGill University Montreal, Quebec, Canada http://www.agu.org/pubs/pip/2004JE002343.pdf "...theoretical modeling of the polar wander of Mars showed that the rotation axis of Mars could have moved by as much as 70 degrees within a geologically short time period in response to the emplacement of Tharsis mass [Spada et al., 1996]. The theoretical modeling also demonstrated the crucial effects of the mantle viscosity and the thickness of the rigid lithosphere on the polar wander." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Giant Impact Basins Trace the Ancient Equator of Mars Jafar Arkani-Hamed Earth and planetary sciences, McGill University Montreal, Quebec, Canada http://www.agu.org/pubs/pip/2004JE002343.pdf "The original heliocentric asteroid was likely fragmented into many pieces and the orbital motion of 5 large fragments evolved rapidly and produced the giant basins. Many small bodies likely scattered and spread over a larger volume, and some out of the orbital plane of the original asteroid. It is possible that these small fragments were eventually collapsed on the equatorial plane and impacted on Mars at very low angles, creating some of the class 3 elliptical craters reported by Schultz and Lutz-Garihan [1982]. Also, there is no reason to believe that all large basins of Mars originated from fragmentation of a single asteroid. Some large basins, such as Chryse, Ares, and buried basins may have been produced by other heliocentric asteroids." To: *null and void* /What tipped Mars off its' then axis? / It might be that all the planets flop around unless they have a large moon to provide stability. THE TWIN TILTS OF THE SPIN AXES OF MARS AND EARTH Donald W. Patten and Samuel R. Windsor http://www.kronia.com/symposium/patten.txt "According to Roche's Limit, fragmentation of a smaller approaching body would occur at about 5,500 miles from the center of Mars, which is 3,400 miles above its surface. Almost opposite to the giant Hellas Crater is the gigantic Tharsis Bulge on Mars, some 4.5 miles high and 3,200 miles broad, scar piece # 3. A diagonal drawn from the center of Tharsis through the center of Hellas should give the trajectory of Astra, as it approached Mars, only to disintegrate into explosive fragments." In the shadow of the Moon New Scientist | 30 January 1999 | editors Posted on 08/31/2004 8:42:25 AM PDT by SunkenCiv http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1203912/posts 18 posted on 08/31/2004 12:24:41 PM PDT by RightWhale http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1203912/posts?page=18#18 New evidence for the Moon's soft middle New Scientist | 14 February 2002 | Will Knight Posted on 12/27/2004 2:29:35 PM PST by SunkenCiv http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1309193/posts 28 posted on 12/31/2004 9:21:42 AM PST by SunkenCiv http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1309193/posts?page=28#28 When the Days Were Shorter Alaska Science Forum (Article #742) | November 11, 1985 | Larry Gedney Posted on 10/04/2004 10:31:59 AM PDT by SunkenCiv http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1234919/posts ------------------------------------------------------------------------ To: *null and void* /"What tipped Mars off its' then axis?"/ Some from Venus would probably say that it's cuz we wouldn't stop to ask directions, but don't you believe 'em! :-) To: *SunkenCiv* THE TWIN TILTS OF THE SPIN AXES OF MARS AND EARTH Donald W. Patten and Samuel R. Windsor http://www.kronia.com/symposium/patten.txt "Mars experienced two fragmentations on its Roche Limit. One was the demise of the tiny planet Astra, which was about the diameter of Pluto, perhaps 1,500 to 1,600 miles in diameter. The demise of Astra provided an ancient ring of debris around Mars, of which Deimos and Phobos are vestiges. Other small debris almost surely is still there, but has escaped detection by unsuspecting astronomers. Some of this debris very likely ruined the recent, and very expensive Mars space mission." To: *Swordmaker* Electric Arcs in Planetary Science Thunderbolts Picture of the Day | 3/7/2005 Posted on 03/07/2005 11:19:39 PM PST by Swordmaker http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1358256/posts When Dust Storms Engulf Mars Thunderbolts Picture of the Day | Mar 24, 2005 | Mel Acheson Posted on 03/28/2005 10:19:07 PM PST by Swordmaker http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1372800/posts Martian "Blueberries" in the Lab Thunderbolts Picture of the Day | Mar 25, 2005 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *FreeRepublic* , LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794 FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2003 Robinson-DeFehr Consulting, LLC.