At first glance, it looks like a tree stump but the circular feature in a newly released image captured by the ExoMars orbiter is actually an ice-rich crater on Mars.
Just as a tree's concentric rings can give us detailed information about Earth's past climate, the patterns inside the crater illuminate the history of the red planet, according to the .
The image was taken last year by the camera on board the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, a spacecraft launched by ESA and Roscosmos, Russia's space agency, that arrived at Mars in 2016 and began its mission in 2018.
The crater in the image is in an area of Mars known as Acidalia Planitia, the planet's vast northern plains. It's where the fictional astronaut Mark Watney was stranded in the novel and movie "The Martian."
the likelihood that the northern plains once contained a large ocean or other bodies of water, probably ice-covered.
ESA said the interior of the crater is filled with deposits that probably contain ice.
"It is thought that these deposits were laid down during an earlier time in Mars' history when the inclination of the planet's spin axis allowed water-ice deposits to form at lower latitudes than it does today," ESA noted in a statement released last week.
"Just like on Earth, Mars' tilt gives rises to seasons, but unlike Earth its tilt has changed dramatically over long periods of time."
Polygon- and semicircle-shaped fractures in the crater are likely a result of seasonal changes in temperature that caused the ice-rich material to expand and contract, ultimately causing the cracks.
As well as taking striking images of the red planet, the orbiter is cataloging gases in the Martian atmosphere and mapping the surface to find water-rich regions. This will help scientists get a better understanding of the history of water on Mars and whether it once allowed life to flourish.
The second part of the mission will get underway in 2023, when a new rover will explore a region of Mars thought to have once hosted an ancient ocean and search underground for signs of life, ESA said.
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Al Pacino is enjoying being a late-in-life dad. The legendary actor talked about being a father to a brood, including to 16-month-old Roman with producer Noor Alfallah.
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Global Affairs Canada says it's aware of reports of the death of a Canadian in Lebanon.
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Seven Vancouver police officers involved in the beating death of Myles Gray nine years ago have been cleared of wrongdoing by a police discipline authority.
Former U.S. President Barack Obama gave a blistering critique of his White House successor Donald Trump and urged Black men to show up for Kamala Harris as he campaigned in Pittsburgh.
A New Zealand man who disappeared with his three children in 2021 was spotted on a farm along the country's northwest coast, police say.
Police in London said Friday that 40 more women have made allegations of rape or sexual assault against the late Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed since the BBC broadcast claims by several former employees of the London department store last month.
The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday to Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese organization of survivours of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, for its activism against nuclear weapons.
North Korea has accused rival South Korea of flying drones to its capital to drop anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets and threatened to respond with force if such flights occur again. South Korea issued a vague denial of the allegation.
Two Lebanese soldiers were killed and three others wounded in an Israeli airstrike that hit a building near a Lebanese Army checkpoint in Kafra, Bint Jbeil province, the Lebanese Army said Friday.
Former public safety minister Bill Blair is expected to face questions at a federal inquiry today about why it took much longer than usual to sign off on a spy service warrant in 2021.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is calling on provinces and territories to start negotiating pharmacare deals as soon as possible, now that the federal legislation to enact the program has become law.
Donald Trump has vowed to renegotiate the USMCA free trade agreement with Canada and Mexico.
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Former Toronto Raptors guard Danny Green has announced his retirement from the NBA.
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Dozens of cars were pulled out of the Detroit River in west Windsor on Tuesday, causing many questions for Windsorites.
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According to the health unit, between May 1 and Sept. 26, 2024, a total of 30 confirmed legionella cases met the criteria for inclusion in the outbreak.
Oro-Medonte fire crews worked to extinguish a blaze early Friday morning.
Police in Barrie are investigating a theft at a convenience store that they say turned violent on Wednesday afternoon.
Local photographer grabs stellar photos of Northern Lights.
The unemployment rate in Windsor has dropped to the second highest in Canada, according to Statistics Canada.
A Windsor city councillor is pushing an idea to build a handful of houses by selling off part of a park he says is going unused.
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It’s expected to be very busy on the roads, at border crossings, and aboard BC Ferries on Friday as British Columbians begin their long weekend plans.
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The economy added 47,000 jobs in September, while the unemployment rate declined for the first time since January to 6.5 per cent.
Dave Lindsey began growing giant pumpkins to bring a bit of magic to his grandkids' Halloween.
A U.S. District Court judge in Montana has sentenced a 27-year-old man from Kelowna, B.C., to 18 months in prison for using fake names to buy guns with the aim of selling them in Canada.
Nearly two years after a man was stabbed to death in downtown Kelowna, RCMP have made an arrest in the case.
The Interfaith Food Bank is busy preparing Thanksgiving bundles and has some tips for anyone hoping to cut down on their holiday dinner costs.
A weapons complaint that led to the temporary lockdown of two Lethbridge schools Thursday turned out to be no threat, police said in a media release.
Thousands more Lethbridge residents will soon be without a family doctor.
Someone who bought a lottery ticket in Parry Sound, Ont., last year is about to miss out on a $100,000 prize if they don't claim it within the next two weeks.
Sault Ste. Marie Police Service said two people were arrested following a heavy police presence on Chapple Avenue on Thursday.
An annual international mining conference is underway in Greater Sudbury, Ont., marking the first time the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Conference of Mining Regions and Cities has been held in North America.
A Conservative MP from Newfoundland and Labrador says some small towns in his rural riding are overrun with crime, but police say they haven't received reports to that effect.
As millions in federal funding flow into a Labrador group whose claims of Inuit identity have been rejected by Indigenous organizations across Canada, a national Inuit leader worries the Liberal government is putting the rights of Indigenous Peoples at risk.
He may not have logged the fastest time or even gone the full distance, but residents of a Newfoundland town agree the goat who unexpectedly joined the local weekend half marathon was the event's undisputed champion.
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