Contains:  Solar system body or event
Mars, 2020-03-21, Astroavani - Avani Soares

Mars, 2020-03-21

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Description

A Mars already showing enough details but still a long way away. What drew attention are the 3 orographic clouds over the 3 Tharsis mountains.

There is a routine meteorological phenomenon called orographic survey. It is when the wind, when hitting a massive structure like a mountain - Montes Tharsis, in this case - is forced to go upwards, cooling and expanding due to the lower atmospheric pressure. As a result, the water vapor contained in the interior can condense and freeze in clouds (the orographic survey is one of the reasons why, on Earth, mountainous regions tend to be particularly cloudy).

The Martian atmosphere can be much less dense than what we terrestrials are used to. It contains such a small amount of water that it is estimated to be only 20 microns deep if it were spread evenly across the planet's surface. But even so, it still has enough to cause these clouds over the main Martian hills.

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Mars, 2020-03-21, Astroavani - Avani Soares