'Swamp Gas' on Mars? - The Green Fog

Well we all know what Swamp Gas generates, don't we?

UFO's At least so we have been told as so many UFO's are put off as 'swamp gas'

Well, this time it's the 'swamp gas' that is the focus of the thread...

Now I suppose there are no swamps on Mars, at least none we have found , so perhaps there is another explanation for the GREEN FOG in a valley on Mars...

This was spotted by Exuberant1's brother and sent to us to look at. How he spotted it is amazing... but it is there...

The image...


Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell

This is a small version for the thread... the full image link is below.

Spirit Rover
Descent from the Summit of Husband Hill
13-Dec-2005

In late November 2005 while descending "Husband Hill," NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit took the most detailed panorama so far of the "Inner Basin," the rover's next target destination. Spirit acquired the 405 individual images that make up this 360-degree view of the surrounding terrain using five different filters on the panoramic camera. The rover took the images on Martian days, or sols, 672 to 677 (Nov. 23 to 28, 2005 -- the Thanksgiving holiday weekend).

Now in this press release NASA tells us the image we are dealing with is as near true color as they can do...

This image is an approximately true-color rendering using camera's 750-, 530-, and 430-nanometer filters. Seams between individual frames have been eliminated from the sky portion of the mosaic to better simulate the vista a person standing on Mars would see.

Green Fog


Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell

The Image above is clipped from the original full size (60 MB) image with no adjustment in size color or contrast. Just over the hill you can see a greenish fog on the valley floor. This image according to NASA is in true color. The source files are linked above in the article. The fog was first spotted by Exhuberant1's brother and brought to Pegasus. He also sent a copy to Mike Singh for his opinion. [see below]

Close up of the Green Fog


Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell

This is a closeup taken from the high res copy of the area showing the 'fog'

Green Fog from Mike Singh


Credit: Mike Singh

Sent: 8-9-2009 at 04:02 AM

"Here's the true color of that image posted above. Note the greens and blues - moss, lichen, grass....? And what looks like a lake in the distance! By the way, NO coloring whatsoever has been superimposed on this image. Just reducing NASA's horrific amount of saturation!!"

-Mike Singh


Descent from the Summit of 'Husband Hill'
Image ID: Seminole_L257atc-A677R1
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell

Browse Image
marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov...

Medium Image (226 kB)
marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov...

Large (60 MB)
marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov...

NASA page reference
marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov...


So... where did this GREEN FOG come from? Could it in fact be an out gassing of METHANE? (hence the label 'swamp gas'?

I will leave it to conjecture... but you know I have more

Excellent thread Zorgon!


This discovery brought to mind an announcement made by NASA back in January.

The announcement pertained to the discovery of methane emissions which were detected in the martian atmosphere, and found to be abundant over certain parts of the planet.

BBC wrote an article which addressed this amazing information:

New light on Mars methane mystery

Large quantities of methane gas have been detected on Mars, NASA scientists have announced in Science journal.

The gas could be produced either by geological activity or by life.

Methane was detected in the Martian atmosphere five years ago; scientists have found it is more abundant over particular parts of the planet.

It should last for only a short time in the atmosphere until it is destroyed by sunlight, and so its continued presence means it is being replenished.

This suggests the methane is made by an ongoing process.

Nili Fossae (Nasa)
We've demonstrated there are regions of active (methane) release
Michael Mumma, Nasa

But the ultimate origin of the methane could either be an ancient or a modern one, say the researchers.

"The fact that we have found three discrete regions where Mars is releasing methane at this time means we have a window into processes occurring under the surface of the planet," said co-author Michael Mumma, a senior planetary scientist at Nasa's Goddard Spaceflight Center in Maryland, US.

"The production (of methane) is likely due to only one of two possibilities. The first is geochemistry, the second is biology. That raises much interest on which one is the dominant production mechanism."

news.bbc.co.uk...

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/538d4d5d030d.jpg[/atsimg]

"Methane is quickly destroyed in the Martian atmosphere in a variety of ways, so our discovery of substantial plumes of methane in the northern hemisphere of Mars in 2003 indicates some ongoing process is releasing the gas," said Dr. Michael Mumma of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "At northern mid-summer, methane is released at a rate comparable to that of the massive hydrocarbon seep at Coal Oil Point in Santa Barbara, Calif."

- Michael J. Mumma, Goddard Space Flight Center for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in Greenbelt, Md.

Here is another quote from Michael J Mumma, the NASA scientist who was quoted and whose work was featured in the BBC article (above):

"Our team has discovered Methane on Mars. The surprising thing about methane on Mars is that - first, that we detected it meaning its recently generated. But in addition, we find that it is being released from several discrete vents, or sites, on the planet's surface, in either mid-summer in the northern hemisphere or early spring in the southern hemisphere on Mars. And yet at a later season, we see essentially no methane."

[edit on 8-9-2009 by Exuberant1]

Great thread Zorgon,

But may a simple guy ask a simple question??

Why (on earth) haha can we get great colour pictures of mars which to me have a striking resembelence to places here on earth, though the we receive such pastey pictures from the moon??

Originally posted by scubagravy
Great thread Zorgon,

But may a simple guy ask a simple question??

Why (on earth) haha can we get great color pictures of mars which to me have a striking resemblance to places here on earth, though the we receive such pasty pictures from the moon??

ditto!

To me it looks like dust blowing in the wind.

The colors in Mars pictures are not 'real'. They are a guess-estimate at the most. So its color is only approximate, just like all colored images from the rover. Its not green strictly.

And as far as I know, methane is colorless.. and wiki says so.
en.wikipedia.org...
So its not methane. If it is it should be invisible.

Methane is a major substance in most of the planets in our solar system. Its not directly related to life or its processes, which means its presence does not imply life, just as presence of CO2 or C won't tell you that there are living things (C-based). So the whole post is saying nothing really.

Originally posted by scubagravy
Why (on earth) haha can we get great colour pictures of mars which to me have a striking resembelence to places here on earth, though the we receive such pastey pictures from the moon??

Because Moon is grey ??? Or are you asking why moon is not like earth ? Because it is not like earth, so it won't look like earth.

Mars is much more like earth, size, atmosphere, surface, rocks, minerals... mostly the same. So no surprise that it resembles earthly places. Some pics from venus also look earthly.

Originally posted by rocksolidbrain
The colors in Mars pictures are not 'real'. They are a guess-estimate at the most. So its color is only approximate, just like all colored images from the rover. Its not green strictly.

So your saying NASA lies?

Also the rovers have a color chart... the sundial




Its purpose is to make photos very close to real color. Mankind has been able to do that for some time... and is good at it... the very screen yoy are looking at, your TV... color printing ALL use only three color filters to give you the millions of shades we call true color...

So if your saying NASA scientists are incapable of making color mixes that are correct... dang we need to put new people in there... maybe some grade schooll kids

All you need is three filters...

The primary colors of light are needed when we are mixing different colored light together. This is done in a computer monitor (whether using LCD technology, or the older CRT technology). The computer screen can emit only three colors, and every color we see on the screen is produced from a mixture of those three primary colors.

I wish you skeptics would learn a little basic light physics



If we can make such awesome colors we see on our screen surely NASA can do the same in their images? Hmmm?

And as far as I know, methane is colorless.. and wiki says so.
en.wikipedia.org...
So its not methane. If it is it should be invisible.

Well maybe so... but it appears that 'swamp gas' is NOT because all the skeptics use 'swamp gas' to explain UFO's...

You cannot have it both ways...

Methane is a major substance in most of the planets in our solar system. Its not directly related to life or its processes, which means its presence does not imply life, just as presence of CO2 or C won't tell you that there are living things (C-based). So the whole post is saying nothing really.

Ah well seems the NASA scientist are not as sure as you are... but that's okay... we know that 'arm chair experts' have all the answers

Originally posted by rocksolidbrain
Because Moon is grey ??? Or are you asking why moon is not like earth ? Because it is not like earth, so it won't look like earth.

No they are asking where the good quality color pictures of the Moon are They did not ask why the moon doesn't look like Earth...

Seriously dude you need to pay attention...

The Grey Moon is propaganda... always has been...

But even Apollo shows us that it has color...

Galileo shows us the color...

Clementine shows us the color...

Even scopes from Earth show us the color...

Like the one we have at Pegasus that even people at NASA have written us saying "Best Moon picture ever"

Mars is much more like earth, size, atmosphere, surface, rocks, minerals... mostly the same. So no surprise that it resembles earthly places. Some pics from venus also look earthly.

Yeah especially the contrail and shadow on Venus

Originally posted by zorgon
Well maybe so... but it appears that 'swamp gas' is NOT because all the skeptics use 'swamp gas' to explain UFO's...

Funny that you say that, the only people that I see using the "swamp gas" explanation are "believers" that think that it is funny to make a one line post saying just that, I don't remember seeing anyone on ATS using "swamp gas" as an explanation to a UFO sighting.

And I think it's a dust cloud, more noticeable on the grey-scale version.

But I will take a look.

Edit: and did you noticed the blue cloud to the left?

Edit the second: I think I understand what that is, it's a dust cloud that was moving. The photos were not taken at the same time, so in the photo used for the red channel there was no cloud, then it appears from the left, on the photo used for the blue channel, and then moves to the right, on the photo used for the green channel.

Third and last (because I will make a new post next time ) edit: it moves from right to left, not left to right, sorry.

[edit on 8/9/2009 by ArMaP]

Originally posted by zorgon
Also the rovers have a color chart... the sundial

All you need is three filters...

The primary colors of light are needed when we are mixing different colored light together. This is done in a computer monitor (whether using LCD technology, or the older CRT technology). The computer screen can emit only three colors, and every color we see on the screen is produced from a mixture of those three primary colors.

I wish you skeptics would learn a little basic light physics

Yes, but even ignoring the difference between true colour and approximate true colour, as far as I could see there is no photo for the red channel, so they used the infra-red filter, and the sundial looks like this when we use that filter.



PS: Why does Mike Singh says that those are the true colours, did he took the photo himself?

PPS: And why didn't he posted it himself instead of using you as a proxy poster?

reply to post by zorgon


Ummm...I've seen the 'green fog' on Mars before, guess it WAS Mike Singh.

It's so blatantly verdant, though...I didn't check, was it perhaps the photo taken during the Mars 'spring'? AND, I forget what latitude the Rovers are at, guess I can look that up too....Point is, would be neato IF that was some primitive form of single- or multi-celled life analgous to earth lichen, or some other extremophile plant.

Or, could be photographic anomaly.

Speaking of those:

Originally posted by zorgon
Yeah especially the contrail and shadow on Venus

This one is trotted out every so often, and bears a repeat question of you.

HOW is a "contrail" and its "shadow" going to be in an image that is really just a radar depiction of the Venutian surface? Radar, because the ever-present cloud cover prevents any optical imaging of the ground?

Before you say that the thick, permanent clouds are NASA lies, it sure is odd that in all these years of observation, by both pros and amateurs alike, not one has ever seen a "break" in these clouds, and reported spotting the surface through their telescopes.

How come?

(ps....I can look this up too, but I believe that when orbits are just so, Venus is actually our closest neighbor planet, distance wise...)

Originally posted by scubagravy
Great thread Zorgon,

But may a simple guy ask a simple question??

Why (on earth) haha can we get great colour pictures of mars which to me have a striking resembelence to places here on earth, though the we receive such pastey pictures from the moon??

Great question but has also an answer. I would suggest you to watch Moon Rising. UFO Greatest Story Ever Denied 2 The answer is there clear and understandable. Good luck.

Originally posted by ArMaP

The point is that if you adjust the color of the image so that the color chart on the Rover shows the true colors, then it is a safe bet that the rest of the images taken that day will be close to correct as we see it (the accepted norm) That is the whole purpose of the thing being on there... so they have a comparison. That is why they also take a picture of the sundial every day so they have a target to use to adjust color

If this was not the case... why bother placing a color chart on the Rover with a red,blue, green and yellow patch if not to use as a color guide for picture adjustment?

PS: Why does Mike Singh says that those are the true colours, did he took the photo himself?

Well Mike has his own criteria for color but you know... in his version those mountains look snow covered,,, and the whole scene looks more like it was taken in the Atacama desert in Chile (where NASA has a "Mars on Earth" setup goimg just like in Haughton Crater in the Arctic

Just adjust the usual tint that you are so fond of with your filters and you will see...


Image credit: NASA

Discovery Channel

They got all kinds of Rovers out there



And this one was lurking around Death Valley somewhere...



So who is to say Mike's version isn't correct?

I mean have you been there to say positively your version is right?

PPS: And why didn't he posted it himself instead of using you as a proxy poster?

Mike Mike who?....


Seems others agree...

Here is a NASA red picture of Atacama



Chilean extremophile bacteria thrive in Mars-like conditions

The Atacama desert lies on the western edge of South America, covering much of northern Chile and parts of Argentina. It is the closest one can get to Mars while remaining grounded on Earth. High atop the Socompa volcano on the Eastern edge of the Atacama desert, the atmosphere is thin, the ultraviolet radiation is intense, and the climate is dry. Nevertheless, the improbable has been found: life.

arstechnica.com...

MARS ON EARTH I love NASA they are such comedians

[edit on 8-9-2009 by zorgon]

reply to post by Telos

I would suggest you to watch Moon Rising. UFO Greatest Story Ever Denied 2

I'm sure Jose' Escamilla appreciates the plug for his ...ahem..."movie", but notwithstanding the fact that it's been discussed (and buried) here on ATS, it also happens to be more about the Moon, than about Mars.

Perhaps Jose' should work on another 'sequel'? BUT, he can't use "Mars Rising", as that belongs to me. Also, "Mars Next", I claim that one too. (AS IN, 'next' after the Moon -- Humans, 'one giant leap' redux, and all that...)

reply to post by zorgon

The problem is that when we use the wrong filters we cannot get the real colours because different materials reflect the wavelengths in different ways, as you know.

You can try to change Hue, Saturation, Brightness or anything else on the sun-dial photo and you will never get the colours as they should be, that's why they chose those colours, to see if everything was right with the cameras.

Originally posted by weedwhacker
I've seen the 'green fog' on Mars before, guess it WAS Mike Singh.

I don't believe you have seen such an image.

To assure us all that you did indeed see such an image from Mars wherein 'green fog' is present, please post it.

If you cannot post the image, you cannot expect us to continue to believe you - so please provide us with the 'green fog' image which you claim to have seen.


Edit: Mikesingh has not posted to ATS any such Mars image labeled 'green fog' or in which a green fog/mist/dust cloud is present and been identified as such. However, it would still be very much appreciated it if you could post the image which you claim to have viewed.


Mike did joke about Swamp gas back in 2006, but did so whilst presenting this SOHO image:

Originally posted by mikesingh

Be that as it may, here is a good SOHO pic of a 'Sun Cruiser'. Of course, it could be swamp gas too!!

SOHO/LASCO pic of a 'Sun Cruiser'.

*Nice image Mike


[edit on 9-9-2009 by Exuberant1]

Originally posted by zorgon

So your saying NASA lies?

snip

If we can make such awesome colors we see on our screen surely NASA can do the same in their images? Hmmm?

I said NASA lies ? Is that all you could understand from my post
NASA is openly telling you how they make color images. Truth is before you. Sometimes you will see mistakes, due to channel data missing or sensors overexposing, underexposing or anything else. And they are to be taken as mistakes, not as an evidence for the theory that NASA is hiding something.

Twisting the colors in photoshop won't make you a rocket scientist. Learn the tech, instead of posting kiddish color charts. Why didn't you make the fog purple, its awesome , no ??? Try it may be it will be entertaining for some.

Originally posted by zorgon
Well maybe so... but it appears that 'swamp gas' is NOT because all the skeptics use 'swamp gas' to explain UFO's...
You cannot have it both ways...

I take it that you don't know how to explain away the colorlessness of methane then.

Swamp gas is a perfect explanation for most of the UFOs, and the gas originates from 'leaders' like Greer and likes and is usually hot. Skeptics are always right.

Originally posted by zorgon
we know that 'arm chair experts' have all the answers

We also know that gullibles (aka TRUE believers), actually visit Mars to get their info. And of course, 'feelings' are the most accurate way to show the truth, rather than rational thinking.

[edit on 9/9/2009 by rocksolidbrain]

reply to post by zorgon


OWW! my eyes hurt, I was trying to find a green fRog

reply to post by rocksolidbrain


This is the first time a green cloud of dust/fog has been spotted on Mars at ground level. Seriously, go check the internet.

And you have failed to account for it. You aren't even trying.

Thus far you've taken the lazy route and chalked it all up to NASA image processing instead of investigating geological processes which could have produced the cloud.

This is the greenest dust we've found on Mars (we produced it - but it's more a turquoise than a green ) :
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/67ef67428477.jpg[/atsimg]




[edit on 9-9-2009 by Exuberant1]

Originally posted by ArMaP
The problem is that when we use the wrong filters we cannot get the real colours because different materials reflect the wavelengths in different ways, as you know.

Well its not a problem... Mars has three things... Rover parts... Basalt all over... and iron oxide sand... In fact that is what we mostly see.

Well we know what color the Rover parts are... and we know what color vesicular basalt is and we know what color the sand is...

So since that is mostly what we see it is easy to compare and say yup looks about right...

So when I have a piece of this Basalt from Nevada on a paper roughly the color of the sand it was found on...




And then look at the same material on Mars...



I can be pretty sure that my picture of Mars is close enough to true color for any intent and purpose... unless you want to tell me that vesicular basalt behaves differently on Mars than it does on earth or the moon

Which pretty much matches the Viking images NASA released



You will see a lot of dark blue in many images of Basalt on Mars... that is because Basalt that isn't weathered will have a blue/black tint to it..

Here are some Basalt tiles showing the blue black texture





[edit on 9-9-2009 by zorgon]