The very idea is so beautiful -- just say the words and it is like poetry, "Snow falling on Mars" -- that I thought I would post a quick diary.
Mars Craft Detects Falling Snow
By Marc Kaufman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 30, 2008; Page A02
Icy snow falls from high in Mars's atmosphere and may even reach the planet's surface, scientists working with NASA's Phoenix lander reported yesterday.
Laser instruments aboard the lander detected the snow in clouds about 2 1/2 miles above the surface and followed the precipitation as it fell more than a mile. But because of limitations with the technology, it was unclear whether any of the powdery stuff made it all the way to the surface.
It's apparently real snow -- made of water.
'Nothing like this view has ever been seen on Mars,' said Jim Whiteway, of York University, Toronto, lead scientist for the Canadian-supplied Meteorological Station on Phoenix. 'We'll be looking for signs that the snow may even reach the ground.'
No pictures of the snow (it's way far up) but here is a picture of the area:
Image taken by the Surface Stereo Imager on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander shows the sun rising on the morning of the lander's 101st Martian day after landing. (c) NASA, JPL-Caltech, University of Arizona, Texas A and M University
A lovely thing to learn, after such a trying day.