Pic of the Day! (28th Oct)

Event Horizon · 28 Oct 2002 at 09:10

Pic of the Day (28th Oct)

Well we come back down to earth today for this beauty:

Full size Image

The Richat Structure in the Sahara Desert of Mauritania is easily visible from space because it is nearly 50 kilometers across. Once thought to be an impact crater, the Richat Structure's flat middle and lack of shock-altered rock indicates otherwise. The possibility that the Richat Structure was formed by a volcanic eruption also seems improbable because of the lack of a dome of igneous or volcanic rock. Rather, the layered sedimentary rock of the Richat structure is now thought by many to have been caused by uplifted rock sculpted by erosion.

The above image was captured last year by the orbiting Landsat 7 satellite. Why the Richat Structure is nearly circular remains a mystery.

Slackworth · 28 Oct 2002 at 09:11

THAT LOOKS WELL COOL,

I have made that my Windows Wallpaper

MindYerBeak · 28 Oct 2002 at 11:32

Most mysterious, good sir, and well worthy of further investigation, methinks. Your thoughtprovoking post is worthy of 5 stars, good sir.

wasc · 28 Oct 2002 at 11:34

eeeurgh. what an awful picture.

I shall defy the beaked one and vote the post for 1 star

/ only joking

taliesyn · 28 Oct 2002 at 11:42

A very nice picture again Mr. EH.

Seems to me to be strange how erosion could have produced circular paterns on that scale.

MAPeX · 28 Oct 2002 at 11:44

Very nice post good sir, no wonder this place is getting better by the day. Keep up the good work

DustyMiller · 28 Oct 2002 at 11:46

Originally posted by adwhitworth
THAT LOOKS WELL COOL,

I have made that my Windows Wallpaper

Me too, truly awesome piccy

funky_llama · 28 Oct 2002 at 12:56

Another stunner

Who would have thought it was right here on earth?

Event Horizon · 28 Oct 2002 at 18:04

Another success then, im so pleased these really are great quality images..

A small bumpskie for the evening crew.

taliesyn · 28 Oct 2002 at 18:09

Great quality is something of an understatement my friend. The full size images are absolutely stunning in my humble opinion

Kodiak · 28 Oct 2002 at 18:10

Some sweet piccys there Event Horizon, keep 'em comming.
With these i get to change my desktop at work every day

Augmented · 28 Oct 2002 at 18:25

Fantastic piccy there... really something. Mother Nature never cease to amaze!

Regarding the volcanic, erosion issue there's always the chance it was a fissure (flat crack) volcano like they have in Iceland iirc. Although that wouldn't account for the concentric circles and the lack of volcanic rock... very strange. A stone crop-circle maybe?.... the result of some mighty alien ship in exodus.

derk · 28 Oct 2002 at 18:29

Evening crew signing in - thanx for the bump or might have missed it

Tis very unusual to say the least - nice post S'ah.

exedanni · 28 Oct 2002 at 18:47

That's beatiful. But why would erosion cause a spiral like that? I think we all know who did it

taliesyn · 28 Oct 2002 at 19:19

I reckon Beaky farted

akakjs · 28 Oct 2002 at 21:43

ooooh pritty

/me sets new desktop

akakjs

Grouch · 28 Oct 2002 at 22:08

Another great picture.

Easy to forget at times quite how beautiful the universe we live in can be

punky_munky · 28 Oct 2002 at 22:30

Looks nice, almost unreal. But what's all that blue stuff?

exedanni · 28 Oct 2002 at 22:45

Originally posted by Grouch
Another great picture.

Easy to forget at times quite how beautiful the universe we live in can be

Earth even!

As for the blue stuff I would guess it to be ice, glaciers are often bluish.

Augmented · 28 Oct 2002 at 23:10

I thought the blue was becuase it was a thermal-imaging pic? I'm not sure there's much ice in north-west Africa!