Bad Astronomy

Bioastronomy

OK, sure, I make fun of biology sometimes. I blame PZ; he’s such an easy target! But then, sometimes, I wonder. Take a look at this:

Is this an orbital view of dune fields on Mars, or a close-up of tentacles on a jellyfish?

OK, they’re dune fields. But don’t they look biological? The grooves are gullies running down from the crests of the dunes, but from the altitude and resolution of the camera HiRISE on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter they look like organic growths seen through a microscope.

But since they’re on Mars, they’re way cooler.

You can keep up with new images from Mars on the HiRISE website. You can also follow HiRISE on Twitter!