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There’s definitely methane on Mars—and there are seasonal variations of how much is being released into the thin Martian atmosphere. Which means that Mars is still active geologically. Or that deep underground, something is or was alive. Or both. NASA and university scientists report the finding in the January 16th issue of the journal Science.
Researchers studying the Martian atmosphere discovered and measured methane levels over the last few years, using telescopes with infrared spectrometers. These instruments identify chemical compounds by analyzing their unique light absorption properties.
They found that Mars methane is being released as concentrated plumes at specific latitudes. Such plumes could come from various kinds of geological events. Underground bacterial communities could also be producing the methane. Or now-extinct living systems could have produced the methane long ago, with it only now being released through pores or fissures created by seasonal temperature variations.
On earth, 90 percent of the methane in the atmosphere comes from the biochemical activity of life. The rest is produced by geochemical processes. The Mars methane’s specific isotopic makeup could reveal whether its origins are biochemical or geological.
—Cynthia Graber
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11 Comments
Add CommentGreat job.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAmazing. We have just discovered that there may or may not be aliens on mars and these aliens may or may not fart.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt's just been determined that the methane is coming from Uranus...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt's just been determined that the methane is coming from Uranus...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt's just been determined that the methane is coming from Uranus...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisamazing but good work :)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWell now ain't this just a fine howdy-do!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI hope to live long enough to hear how all the over-educated skeptics who for eons have dictated that there is -no- life on Mars deal with this one. As Carl Sagan said, "It would be a tremendous waste of space if it was only us." Now..how do we do the isotope analysis?
I will believe that there is life on Mars when they find life, not a bunch of gas.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisUhh... The gas is the indicator that there IS life on Mars. The "life" is creating the gas. No life, no gas and vice versa.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI believe there is life on Mars and I believe Moon is a satellite
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thiswww.abidemiracles.com/images/nasamars/MA09SpirBonestell1772AL254FC.png
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt's been peopled all along. NASA cameras do not focus on any moving body in the foreground.