From: Milton Aupperle <milton@outcastsoft.com>

Date: March 21, 2012 10:41:58 PM MDT

To: Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com

Subject: Re: [Astro_IIDC] Interesting new feature on Mars

Hi Matt;

That's very cool. It almost looks like a plume.

Too bad it's cloudy and the jet stream is parked on top of me or I'd try to see if it's there or not.

Thanks for sharing..

Milton Aupperle

On 2012-03-21, at 9:18 PM, matt carmine wrote:

A discussion of Cloudy Nights has revolved around a new cloud feature imaged by several members over the last few nights.  I too noticed it in my blue channel from last night's Mars (March 20) but thought it might have been a processing artefact but other have noticed it as a persistent feature that moves with the planet's rotation.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4852049/bluemarschannel%20copy%20copy.jpg

Current theories are it is an orographic ice cloud or large dust plume.  This is the first time such a feature has been captured by earth based imaging!

Jim