Ancient Lake on Mars - Maybe

"New images show evidence of ancient Martian lake"
The Associated Press (June 19, 2009)

"New images suggest Mars had a sizable lake on its surface billions of years ago, further evidence that the planet had a watery past. Images snapped by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reveal a 30-mile-long canyon where water once flowed and beach remnants surrounding a basin.

Dubbed the Shalbatana lake for the valley it's located in, scientists believe it is about the size of Lake Champlain that borders the United States and Canada...."

That picture shows how the Shalbotana lake might have looked, around 3,400,000,000 years ago.

Not everybody's entirely convinced that it's a lake. One scientists said that he'd like to see something besides images, before being sure that it was a body of water. Makes sense to me: although it will probably be a while before any explorer from Earth - robotic or otherwise - gets to that particular spot.

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Other posts, about "Mars, Mostly."

Related posts, at

• "A Serious Search for Other Worlds, Life, and - Maybe - Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence"