Mysterious weather clouds appear on Mars: What is NASA not telling us?

Saturday, December 05, 2015 by: PF Louis
Tags: Mars mysteries, NASA, astronomy

---

(NaturalNews) When an amateur astronomer in the UK spots something on Mars that's unusual and unnoticed by NASA, or at least not mentioned by NASA, it begs the question: what is NASA not telling us?

A BBC report explained that several amateur astronomers around the globe have noticed strange plumes above Mars, but the British amateur astronomer, Damian Peach, was the first to take photos of them.

At first, Peach thought something was wrong with his telescope or the camera. He explained to BBC News, "I noticed this projection sticking out of the side of the planet. To begin with, I thought there was a problem with the telescope or camera. But as I checked more of the images, I realized it was a real feature -- and it was quite a surprise."

Since those observations by amateur astronomers in 2012, the photos have been examined and analyzed by international professional astronomers who confirm that they are real but not easily explained.

The haze emitted by the plumes, or clouds, that stretched 1,000 kilometers (about 621 miles) over the same spot were seen for 10 days on two occasions a month apart in 2012, but have not been seen again since then.

Let the speculation begin

Dr. Antonio Garcia Munoz of the European Space Agency noted that clouds of carbon dioxide or ice crystals have appeared over Mars before. However, they never occurred at the altitude demonstrated in the photos.

"We know there are clouds on Mars, but clouds, up to this point, have been observed up to an altitude of 100km," Dr. Munoz said. "And we are reporting a plume at 200km, so it is significantly different. At 200km, we shouldn't see any clouds, the atmosphere is too thin -- so the fact we see it for 20 days in total is quite surprising."

Another theory is that what was photographed were Martian versions of colorful light shows exhibited naturally at both of the earth's poles. In the north, this is commonly observed as the aurora borealis, while the south pole produces the aurora australis.

The lights often appear as shimmering colorful curtains, but sometimes stream along the earth's magnetic lines. According to Dr. Munoz, "We know in this region on Mars there have been auroras reported before. But the intensities we are reporting are much much higher than any auroras seen before on Mars or on Earth." He explains that they're likely to be 1,000 times stronger than even the strongest aurora, adding that "it is difficult to come to terms that Mars has such an intense aurora."

Dr. Munoz admitted that if either theory proves true, it means earth's astronomers have been mistaken about Mars' upper atmosphere. That's why he put out a paper titled, "An extremely high-altitude plume seen at Mars' morning terminator," which was based on Damian Peach's photos and published in the journal, Nature. He wants more scientific feedback and brainstorming.

Another theory more recently proposed is that the clouds were formed from dust storms. This seems to be the least likely explanation. But there were no known comments from NASA.

Into the X-Files rabbit hole

The psychological claim exists that in the absence of easily-proven facts, "conspiracy theories" fill the gap. But not all conspiracies are theoretical. Some prove to be true or closer to the truth than the official lines regurgitated by the media.

For example, mysteries are still being questioned by many regarding the missing two minutes of transmission from the first moonwalk.

According to Timothy Good, author of Above Top Secret (1988), ham (amateur) radio operators capable of receiving the type of VHFs used between mission control and the first moon walkers intercepted a transmission that was censored out of public disclosure.

Neil Armstrong was exclaiming that large spacecraft were hovering on the opposite side of a nearby crater and observing them.

This was later verified by other sources including Armstrong's fellow moon walker "Buzz" Aldrin.

Could it be possible that there is more to these plumes than we're being told?

You can explore this rabbit hole more thoroughly via the last two "exopolitics" links in the sources below.

Sources for this article include:
http://www.bbc.com

http://www.nature.com

http://earthsky.org

http://exopolitics.org

http://exopolitics.org/tag/neil-armstrong