4 ms·
I don't really understand how come no-one was able to see it before... I don't know how it works, but since telescopes are looking for stars and stuff much more
by adv0r 14y ago
I don't really understand how come no-one was able to see it before... I don't know how it works, but since telescopes are looking for stars and stuff much more distant that mars, I was confident that they scanned the whole surface of neighbors planets decades ago... Some explanation?
- MiguelHudnandez 14y agoThings that could cause it to be missed: * Angle of photography * Time of day (direction of sunlight) * Weather conditions We often ignore problems that are "closer" to us. For example, the oceans on our own planet are still very much a mystery, yet we still look outward.
- mistawobin 14y agoWhat specifically about our oceans are a mystery?
- R_Edward 14y agoI'm just going to leave this right here. http://www.xkcd.com/1040/ http://www.xkcd.com/1040/ It's a little bit of awesome.
- swang 14y agoMars (according to Wikipedia) has a surface area of 144,798,500km^2. This thing is within an area of 35 meters^2 and I'm guessing it's not very flashy when viewed on a screen. Needle in a haystack.
- aroberge 14y agoThere's a limit for how big/small an object you can see with a telescope due to diffraction. For instance, the Hubble telescope can not distinguish features on the moon that are less than approximately 100 meters. Obviously it gets much worse for Mars and the other planets.
- huhtenberg 14y agoEarth-based telescopes can't be used to find an Apollo lander on the moon. It's just too damn far. A crater on Mars is a notch up from that.
- xefer 14y agoHeck, we're still finding strange things on the Moon: http://www.lroc.asu.edu/news/index.php?/archives/277-Natural-Bridge-on-the-Moon!.html http://www.lroc.asu.edu/news/index.php?/archives/277-Natural...