Amazing! Not only the size, but the fact that there are at least 6 more of them. I wonder, is there any parallel to a feature such as this on earth? I've never seen anything like it.

Wow! Neato.

That picture makes it look so surreal it almost looks fake doesn't it? Just this black nothingness in the middle of regular terrain. For some reason I think that the place in question must have been an ancient ocean/lake bed. I wonder how deep it would have to be in order to come out completely black. It could be anywhere from 500 feet to 50,000 feet.

Originally posted by yuefo
Amazing! Not only the size, but the fact that there are at least 6 more of them. I wonder, is there any parallel to a feature such as this on earth? I've never seen anything like it.

Yeah there are places like this all over the planet and they are usually filled in with Water. There is one lake in Ontario that is something like 850 feet deep. There are of course much deeper ones in the Pacific.

That is a fantastic picture. Planet Earth's Caves episode featured these types of holes in the ground. They were used by the ancient Aztec and Maya as a source of fresh water for example.

Once in the hole they're usually filled with vast amounts of water and underground water systems. Very interesting life also develops in these areas. This is a MUST see area once we have better tools to explore Mars.

Originally posted by sardion2000

Originally posted by yuefo
Amazing! Not only the size, but the fact that there are at least 6 more of them. I wonder, is there any parallel to a feature such as this on earth? I've never seen anything like it.

Yeah there are places like this all over the planet and they are usually filled in with Water. There is one lake in Ontario that is something like 850 feet deep. There are of course much deeper ones in the Pacific.

where in ontario is this?

Interesting post thanks for adding it. At first glance I thought wow look at this big hole! But as I continued to study the images at the links provided it began to appear to me quite supicious. The black field seems to be just filled in with a paint program rather than the recess of a dark hole. Just ink black. There doesn't seem to be a any detail around the rim of said hole and in the end comes off looking like someone just tampered with the images. If it were indeed a hole or holes it would be one of the most amazing finds on the surface detail of Mars but in my opinion this is not the case.

very interesting!!

maybe they're blacking something out?

does it look like that to anyone else?

that looks a little bit unaturaul.... edges of the hole are very clean.

i could make a similar image in microsoft paint

but, regardless this is interesting.

now that ive taken a closer look at it ive noticed a bright aura coming out of the upper right hand side of the hole

it even makes the ground in the area brighter

i dont think this is a naturaul phenomenon.....

looks VERY fake to me after a third look

considering the size of the image there are many other very large holes on the picture.. but these holes have a contrast from black to grey and it just looks more naturual

but the hole in the image has no contrast, its just a blatant black hole...

the white aura of light makes me think it might be a city

[edit on 26-5-2007 by biotic]

it's been editied just look at it. and looking at some of the other "dots" it's just hills with dark shadows.... you can even see the rising of the hills... gee.

It does look like something with a black spot over it,possibly covering something up..so much we haven't found out about that planet.

Assuming that the picture I show is correct and that they are hills and mounds rather than being craters then Id just like to throw something out there.


If the light is indeed coming from the right then looking at the rim of the 'hole' it shows a build up of the ground material that is also catching the light on the right which to me suggests a punch out effect hole, could be natural ground level volcano type hole or something like a build up of gasses that burst through the ground to escape.
Or indeed something more sinister (had to throw that one in the pot).

If however the 'hills' are actually craters then it could be the same case with the build up around the rim but catching the light from the left so that would imply something that has created a puncture at a 45 degree angle from the right side going down and leaving a sloped side for the light to catch on.

However one final wonder is if that is actually a shadow like the hills and using the light from the right angle then it could also be something like an upright circular object with the light catching from the right and casting a deep shadow on the left.
Ok that one was way out there but still.

So are they hills catching the light from the right or craters catching the light from the left?

im refering to the picture with a black dot at the center. i really dont think that is a hole, it is a dot. it looks more like whatever was underneath has been blackened out with ms paint. its took dark for the rest of the picture. can somebody please search for another camera angle of that area? hmmm i wonder what lies beneath for them to do this.

[edit on 26-5-2007 by anakim]

[edit on 26-5-2007 by anakim]

That's pretty cool!! I wonder if anything lives in there.

"Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter HiRISE team included this one, of a fairly bland-looking lava plain to the northeast of Arsia Mons. Bland, that is, except for a black spot in the center."

It seems pretty obvious to me if it is a Lava Plain, then there would be pockets underneath said plain.
A meteor slams into the crust punching a hole in the surface.

Seen this earlier, but I'm glad that there are people here on ATS who are curious about these anomalies on Mars! Hey! I've got company! Welcome to the club bestideayet. You're gonna be probably ripped apart sooner than later!!

OK, having said that, it would be great if you could provide the image numbers of these HiRise images.

Cheers!

This is probably the most fascinating story I've ever read. I'm with biotic and will go "out on a limb" and charge blatant government obfuscation. May we live in interesting times...

Sorry the links aren't working on my crappy, RAM-starved old system.