* Astronomy

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RE: Mars methane

Blobrana · L

Methane-producing mineral discovered on Mars
But it may not explain the presence of the gas on the Red Planet today. Surprises keep coming from Nili Fossae, a long, deep scar in the surface of Mars. In December last year, scientists reported evidence there for carbonates minerals that typically form in the presence of water. Then, in January, reports came that there was a large plume of methane in the area. On Earth the gas is made mostly by animals as a by-product - although it can also be produced naturally in the absence of life.

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NASA Scientist to Speak On Discovery of Methane On Red Planet
NASA scientist Michael Mumma and his team of researchers have discovered methane on Mars, indicating the planet is still alive -- either in a biologic or geologic sense.

"The big question is, 'What is the origin of this methane now being released'" - Michael Mumma.

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Martian Methane Suggest Solar-Induced Global Warming
A group associated with NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, using NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility at Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii discovered plumes of methane in the Martian atmosphere over several seasons of observations. Methane is a gas normally produced by biological or volcanic processes-something not believed possible on Mars, which is considered both biologically and geologically dead.

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NASA | The Mystery of Martian Methane

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Mike Mumma and his team of researchers at Goddard Space Flight Centre have made the first definitive observations of methane in the atmosphere of Mars. The evidence of methane plumes only during certain seasons and the chemical processes that could lead to its possible sources both raise intriguing questions for future study.

Blobrana · L

A team of NASA and university scientists has achieved the first definitive detection of methane in the atmosphere of Mars. This discovery indicates the planet is either biologically or geologically active.
The team found methane in the Martian atmosphere by carefully observing the planet throughout several Mars years with NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility and the W.M. Keck telescope, both at Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The team used spectrometers on the telescopes to spread the light into its component colours, as a prism separates white light into a rainbow. The team detected three spectral features called absorption lines that together are a definitive signature of methane.

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Blobrana · L

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.

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NASA scientists are expected to announce they may have proof there is life on Mars.
The scientists suspect alien microbes are alive and kicking just below the soil of the big planet, after large quantities of what is believed to be the organisms waste products were detected.
The organisms called methanogens are suspected to have been living in water beneath underground ice, where they are disgorging tonnes and tonnes of methane.

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Plumes of methane identified on Mars
More than four years after researchers first said they had found methane gas on Mars, a scientist claims that he has "nailed" the controversial detection and identified key sources of the gas.

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