Grandparents killed in wrong-way crash on Hwy. 401 identified
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
NASA’s Perseverance has paid off — the first scientific analysis of images taken by the rover has shown that one of Mars’ famous craters used to be a lake, fed by small rivers, which may have gone through dramatic flooding.
Although it’s been theorized for a while that the Jezero Crater, which is now dry and wind-eroded, used to be a lake, this new analysis, published Thursday in the journal Science, sheds more light on what the crater might have looked like in its wetter days.
Perseverance’s photos were taken from the inside of the crater, and focus on a section of the crater on its western side, a fan-shaped formation as well as a prominent rock outcrop called Kodiak. Satellite images have shown that this region resembles river deltas seen on Earth, and Perseverance’s up-close perspective has confirmed this theory.
The layering of sediments and the positioning of rocks shows how water would have flowed into the lake and deposited new material.
“Never before has such well-preserved stratigraphy been visible on Mars,” Nicolas Mangold, a Perseverance scientist from the Laboratoire de Planétologie et Géodynamique in Nantes, France, and lead author of the paper, said in a NASA press release.
“This is the key observation that enables us to once and for all confirm the presence of a lake and river delta at Jezero. Getting a better understanding of the hydrology months in advance of our arrival at the delta is going to pay big dividends down the road.”
Perseverance first landed in the Jezero Crater in February, but took a rest for a few months while NASA double-checked the rover’s instruments. In that time, the rover took photos of its surroundings, including long-distance photos of the Kodiak butte.
Once those images were downloaded to Earth, researchers were able to investigate them, and could see distinct stripes of sediments in the region that they believed could only be the result of consistent flowing water going into a lake.
But that’s not the only thing the images revealed.
“If you look at these images, you’re basically staring at this epic desert landscape. It’s the most forlorn place you could ever visit,” Benjamin Weiss, professor of planetary sciences in MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences and a member of the analysis team, said in a Massachusetts Institute of Technology press release.
“There’s not a drop of water anywhere, and yet, here we have evidence of a very different past. Something very profound happened in the planet’s history.”
The presence of huge rocks in the upper layer of the ancient river delta indicate that not only were there gentle rivers feeding this lake, there had been flooding in the past.
Researchers theorized that there may have been a a flash flood at some point that flowed up to nine metres and moved up to 3,000 cubic metres of water per second.
“You need energetic flood conditions to carry rocks that big and heavy,” Weiss says. “It’s a special thing that may be indicative of a fundamental change in the local hydrology or perhaps the regional climate on Mars.”
Before the lake became a crater, it had wildly different heights in its life, with the size of the lake fluctuating across its lifespan. Most of these big changes in size occurred later in its life, researchers theorized.
These images are only the start. Now that Perseverance is in the crater and has confirmed that it used to be a lake, the rover will collect samples of the sediments to be analyzed later on Earth — samples that may hold signs of ancient life from this long-dead lake.
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
Three people have been arrested and charged in the killing of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar – as authorities continue investigating potential connections to the Indian government.
Pius Suter scored with 1:39 left and the Vancouver Canucks advanced to the second round of the NHL playoffs with a 1-0 victory over the Nashville Predators on Friday night in Game 6.
TD Bank Group could be hit with more severe penalties than previously expected, says a banking analyst after a report that the investigation it faces in the U.S. is tied to laundering illicit fentanyl profits.
A Quebec man who pleaded guilty to threatening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier François Legault has been sentenced to 20 months in jail.
RCMP say human remains found in a rural area in central Saskatchewan may have been there for a decade or more.
A source close to singer Britney Spears tells CNN that the pop star is 'home and safe' after she had a 'major fight' with her boyfriend on Wednesday night at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.
As Wegovy becomes available to Canadians starting Monday, a medical expert is cautioning patients wanting to use the drug to lose weight that no medication is a ''magic bullet,' and the new medication is meant particularly for people who meet certain criteria related to obesity and weight.
Drew Carey took over as host of 'The Price Is Right' and hopes he’s there for life. 'I'm not going anywhere,' he told 'Entertainment Tonight' of the job he took over from longtime host Bob Barker in 2007.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.