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Could the image above be proof of flowing water on the surface of Mars? The dark finger like tendrils extend down Martian slopes in the summer months then disappear in winter. NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has witnessed this occurrence on several different hillsides.

The images suggest that some kind of thawing is happening in the warmer months. Alfred McEwan who is the principal investigator for the orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment or HiRISE said "The best explanation for these observations so far is the flow of briny water".

Briny water is water with a high salt content, this lowers the temperature at which water would freeze allowing it to flow in the cold Martian environment. If water is flowing on Mars this holds intriguing prospects for the possibility of life to exist. Scientists are suggesting that perhaps in the summer months certain microbes could be present in the meltwater.

If these are indeed water flows it would be the first time that liquid water has ever been detected on another planet. In the solar system there are other candidates where flowing water could be present, such as the Jupiter moon Europa, where it is thought there could be oceans of water under its icy surface.

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