NASA Scientists Baffled By Mysterious Pit Photographed On Mars

Lee Speigel
Updated
This strange, nearly perfectly circular feature in a “Swiss Cheese” area of Mars has scientists wondering if it was formed from something that fell from the sky, or if it resulted from a ground collapse. (Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ of Arizona)
This strange, nearly perfectly circular feature in a “Swiss Cheese” area of Mars has scientists wondering if it was formed from something that fell from the sky, or if it resulted from a ground collapse. (Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ of Arizona)

While it’s been said that the moon is made of cheese, we know, of course, that particular dairy product was never discovered on our close lunar neighbor. But what about a place on Mars that looks like it’s made of Swiss cheese?

This area of the Red Planet’s southern hemisphere includes a large pit of some sort ― see the images above and below ― that has scientists scratching their heads, wondering if this was the result of something smashing into Mars, or if the ground somehow collapsed and left a perfectly circular result.

Photographed recently by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, this image depicts many shallow pits scattered around an area of thawing carbon dioxide ice, designated “Swiss cheese terrain,” according to Australian-based ScienceAlert.com.

“There is also a deeper, circular formation that penetrates through the ice and dust,” NASA says on its Mars orbiter update page. “This might be an impact crater or it could be a collapse pit.”

At this point, the space agency’s scientists don’t really know what created this Martian feature.

Holes on Mars are not uncommon.

“More than half a million meteorite impacts have left craters; collapsing lava tubes have created deep pits; ancient floods have gouged out giant chasms; and volcanic activity has melted ice to leave funnels,” reports ScienceAlert.

At an estimated approximately 500 feet across, this circular Martian feature is “a bit deeper than your average hole, leaving astronomers to try and figure out what made it,” the science news site adds.

Below is an extreme closeup of the feature in question ― whatever it is.

This strange, nearly perfectly circular object on a “Swiss Cheese” area of Mars has scientists wondering if it was formed from something that fell from the sky, or if it resulted from a ground collapse. (Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ of Arizona)
This strange, nearly perfectly circular object on a “Swiss Cheese” area of Mars has scientists wondering if it was formed from something that fell from the sky, or if it resulted from a ground collapse. (Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ of Arizona)

Clarification: Technically, frozen carbon dioxide does not “melt,” as previously stated in this article. Rather, it changes directly from a solid to a gas as it warms.

Also on HuffPost

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

Shallow Irregular Pits with Raised Rims

Researchers are still trying to figure out what caused these "mystery" features. One intriguing theory suggests they were sculpted by ancient glaciation.
Researchers are still trying to figure out what caused these "mystery" features. One intriguing theory suggests they were sculpted by ancient glaciation.

Raindrops of Sand in Copernicus Crater

The dark features here look like raindrops, but are actually sand dunes. This spot was targeted an infrared spectrometer on the Mars Orbiter because the dunes are rich in the mineral olivine. Olivine-rich dunes are very rare on Earth, as olivine rapidly weathers to clays in a wet environment. There is also olivine-rich bedrock in the central peaks of Copernicus Crater on the Moon. (Caption: Alfred McEwen)

Bright Tracks from Bouncing and Rolling Boulders

This image shows a well-preserved impact crater. A closeup view highlights distinctive bright lines and spots on the steep slope on the north side. No such pattern was visible when HiRISE imaged this crater 5 years ago (2.6 Martian years ago), in March 2008. The discontinuous bright spots indicate bouncing, thus these features are interpreted to be a result of boulders bouncing and rolling down the slope. Where did the boulders come from? Maybe they fell from the crater's steep upper cliffs, although we don't see any new bright features there that point to the source. Maybe the rocks were ejected from a new impact event somewhere nearby. Why are the trails bright? Perhaps the shallow subsurface soil here is generally brighter than the surface soil, as revealed by the Spirit rover in a part of Gusev Crater. It can't be bright from ice because this is a warm equator-facing slope seen in the summer. (Caption: Alfred McEwen)

Ridges and Grooves That Wave and Buckle on a Valley Floor

Long linear ridges and grooves curve, wave, and buckle across most of this image. Here, as elsewhere on Mars, these linear ridges and grooves fill a valley floor, hence their name, "lineated valley fill." Because these features are only found in valleys in the middle latitudes (30 to 60 degrees) of the Northern and Southern hemispheres, scientists had long suspected that they were associated with some ancient climate that had prevailed in that latitudinal band. Based on peering beneath the surface using radar, scientists now think that lineated valley fill is probably merely a rocky veneer atop a glacier of nearly pure ice! The rocks that make up the linear ridges and grooves were oriented by the ancient flow of the glacier underneath. (Caption: Ethan Schaefer)

Megabreccia on the Floor of an Impact Crater

"'Megabreccia' is a term we use to describe jumbled, fragmented blocks of rock larger than 1 meter across, in a matrix of finer-grained materials," per the HiRISE website. "It's the result of energetic processes, typically from an impact event."
"'Megabreccia' is a term we use to describe jumbled, fragmented blocks of rock larger than 1 meter across, in a matrix of finer-grained materials," per the HiRISE website. "It's the result of energetic processes, typically from an impact event."

Defrosting of Dunes with Large Gullies

The purpose of this observation is to image dunes where substantial "gullies" formed in the previous Martian winter. These features likely formed due to carbon dioxide defrosting or weight that caused the surface to slump. The gullies at this site are particularly large, which is intriguing, suggesting that this site be monitored to see if stages of gully formation or details of activity can be observed. (Caption: HiRISE Science Team)

Martian Honeycomb Hideout

The most striking aspect of this image is the honeycomb-like pattern of the dunes. This is a seasonal monitoring site, meaning HiRISE takes pictures across the seasons to view what changes occur and what causes them. The surface here is covered with seasonal carbon dioxide frost. In this case, we can compare locations of cracks in the frost to previous images. (Caption: HiRISE Science Team)

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.