A strange kind of beauty: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120422.html .

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brian

Wonderul...and alien as you say Brian.

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BRIAN
Celestron Nexstar 8SE, Ioptron CEM 25P mount
Altair Astro 102 ED refractor with Lunt B600 CaK diagonal
Coronado PST DS, Daystar Quark
ZWO ASI120MM camera, Canon 1000D (astro modified), Starlight Express SXV H9-C.
Gallery: http://www.astrobin.com/users/smerral/

It looks like a Sci-fi illustration or book cover ... fascinating!

I wonder if Martian Camels are green?

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8x30 (Baigish BPC5, Soviet era) Binocular
8x25 Bak4 Prism (Sun Optical) Binocular
7-21x25 (Helios) Monocular

Dear Brian
the NASA pic is certainly an amazing image of part of Mars surface.
I find it particularly interesting because a few years back I did some very basic research into martian sand and duststorms. From what I recall, Mars sand generally tends to be finer than that in earth's deserts. Even so it has always amazed me how mobile Mars sand seems to be considering how thin Mars atmosphere is, although of course i think compared to Earth much more of Mars is probably sand covered and winds are often high velocity. Although I've never experienced a serious dust storm on Earth I've seen Earth Dust Devils. However it seems Mars dust storms are generally in a different league and of course are often readily observed by amateur astronomers.
Best wishes from Cliff

Mars's weaker gravitational field might possibly allow for easier aeolian erosion than on Earth.

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brian