Mars Stains

Welcome to Palermo's Martian Anomalies

A Study of MOC Images

Martian Anomaly

Water Flows or Just Dry Dust??

In the course of my sifting through the thousands of Mars images, I frequently come across inexplicable 'stains' which NASA explains as dark dry dust as a result of dry landslides. Looking at these images I find it hard to see how dust can exit from the side of a mountain or crater from a very small point and fan out as it goes downhill. As well, I have come across images showing different shades of these stains from very black to light gray, which would indicate that one could be fresher or newer than the others. On July 20th, 2000, I posted my first query about the stains of Mars to my Cydonia egroup, since then i have been on an exciting odyssey to learn more about this enigma.

I am not a scientist or a geologist. I am a layman astronomer and an artist. I also understand that one can be fooled by optical illusions, with that in mind, I still find it hard to understand how dry dust can act just like water. Another factor to consider; if these are fine dust deposits then why doesn't the wind disperse the stain trails??

A landslide would most of the time start out fairly large and wind up smaller as it wound down hill. Most of the images I have found indicate a tiny starting point which continues fanning out as it goes downhill. How could dry dust act like this?

My theory is that these are veins of ice water mixed with an unknown black material which exits from a small fissure (like a spring) under pressure, melts and flows downhill until the source dries up or is blocked. I would also postulate that the black-dark colored material acts as an antifreeze, keeping the water liquid in the coldness of Mars, or it could be some other unknown black liquid.

Recently NASA announced..."Identification of the mineral hematite, indicating a past surface-hydrothermal environment that may be an analog for the kinds of areas in which early life developed on Earth." This may be the mineral responsible for the blackness of these flows.

Another scenario to investigate is the temperature differential between the black material and Mar's regular surface. Black materials absorb more infrared energy and therefore has a higher temperature than a lighter colored material. This may act as a warm base for life. The Mars Global Surveyor has instruments to measure temperatures so this theory can be easily checked out (i.e. THEMIS - Thermal Emission Spectrometer)

There is also the possibility that if this action is the result of a water based liquid then life may exist in or on these deposits. Algae or a type of fungus may exist in these areas and may also be the cause of the dark coloration.

All I am asking is that one looks at these images and makes up their own mind. It may well be that these are indeed some form of exotic Martian magic dust, but take a look for yourself at the collection of images and tell me what you think.

It is hoped that NASA takes a closer look at what may be proof positive of abundant water and/or life on Mars.

Addenda:

Now that NASA has determined that water and life may have existed on Mars with the recent discovery of organic magnetite in a Mars meteorite, some attention is being focused with the online investigative community on the 'stains' that NASA has stated are just dust slides. Mr. Hoagland had published an initial analysis of the "stains" in July, 2000. So there already had been some question raised about NASA's claims by him and others.

I have been working on this line of investigation as a lay enthusiast and forwarding my findings to Mac Tonnies for his Cydonia Imperative web site. What has started out as a hobby and interest may be of some importance to possibly divert some public (and NASA) attention to these mysterious stains.

More work on these stains by independent investigators who come to the same conclusion may be enough one day to interest NASA into a further study of this anomaly. I would urge anyone interested, who has come to these same conclusions, to write NASA ask them to further their investigation of the stains of Mars.

Efrain Palermo

Go to the next page for more images:

Go to Efrain's Home Page

E-mail Efrain Palermo

Coming Soon!

I will be selling full size glossy posters (24" x 27") of the Dark Streaks of Mars and the work on this site. Click here to get on my mailing list!

Efrain Palermo and Jill England havebeen invited to present their martian seeps work to the National Space Society meeting, May 12th, in Seattle at the Museum of Flight.

The to the NSS was given and went well! A lot of questions were asked, and conclusions debated back and forth. But all concurred that more should be found out about the 'stains' of mars. Click here for new information that was presented at this presentation!

The Mars Odyssey has started using it's science instruments and has found water on the poles and bi-modally distributed as shown by my Mars stain distribution map.

(Click to see larger image)

Image courtesy of The Enterprise Mission • Click to see larger image

This finding validates my stain research and proves a correlation between flows distribution and water as found by Odyssey using the HEND (High-Energy Neutron Detector) and the neutron spectrometer instruments. (See Epithermal image above using the neutron spectrometer). Theories on this bi-modal distribution are sparse. Richard Hoagland provided one explanation to this in his Mars Tidal Theory.

Whatever is causing this grouping of water and flows should be a priority for NASA reserach. It may well be that these flows I have been studying are in themselves dust flows, but the data suggests that at the least they are connected to surface water, and may be a marker for sub-surface water sources. At the most, these dark stain flows may be a mixture of water itself!

Also see Hoagland's web page on this at http://www.enterprisemission.com

Efrain Palermo and Jill England presented their Seeps Research Paper at the 4th Annual Mars Society Convention at Stanford University on August 24th, 2001!

NASA Announces Flow Changes Over a Martian Year!

This site has been working on this for some time and this validates our efforts.With the help of Jill England, we have proven that there are flow changes over time.

Other Stain Links:

Bryan Butcher's Stain Page 1, Page 2

cydonia.ksu.ru

Mars Links:

National Space Society

Mars Odyssey Home Page

VGL & Palermo Phobos Monolith Site

Cydonia Imperative

VGL

MUFOR - Malta UFO research

electricwarrior.com

Ultimate Web Page List of Anomaly Hunters

Search this web site:

NASA image posted 24 May 2001

Discovery of overlapping images taken at different dates shows proof of present stain activity!! Click here to go to the Discovery page!!

This site was born December, 2000

A gif movie showing an overlap of two different MOC images of the same areas at different times: m09048721 and ab111304. Movie by Efrain Palermo, images found by Jill England.

NEW OVERLAP IMAGES!!