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Mars and Mars Global Surveyor Orbiter (MGS) of Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) from 2006
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Happy 8th Birthday, MGS
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Happy 8th Birthday, MGS |
| Description |
. The reason there is no MOC image for April 1999 is a product of the MGS spacecraft's 8-year history at Mars. MGS was certainly in orbit at the time, and it was taking data during the month of April. However, the camera did not obtain any images between 17 and 28 April because the spacecraft encountered, and then had to be recovered from, a problem. It was at this time that the spacecraft team realized that there is something obstructing the full movement of MGS's high gain antenna. A work-around was created and the mission has continued, ever since, but the down-side was that MOC did not have the opportunity in 1999 to provide detailed observations of the north polar, summertime, annular cloud. The remaining three pictures show MGS MOC views of the cloud feature, as it appeared in the subsequent 3 Mars years. Each year, the cloud appeared at about the same time or slightly earlier than in the previous year. Despite its superficial resemblance to a hurricane or cyclone on Earth, the northern summer annular cloud does not rotate. The cloud forms as different currents of air merge in the morning hours in the polar region, by afternoon, the annular cloud typically dissipates or breaks up into smaller clouds. MGS MOC has observed other repeated phenomena over the course of its 8-year mission orbiting Mars. These include dust storms that repeat, year after year, in the same location within a week or two of the time it occurred in the previous year. They also include dust devils in northern Amazonis, which start up shortly after the first day of spring, and keep occurring nearly every afternoon until a few days into the autumn season. MOC is continuing its mission to monitor the planet -- in 2006, MOC's weather observations will be used to provide guidance for the aerobraking maneuvers of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). MOC images will show whether dust storms are occurring, and whether the dust suspended by these storms will impact the density of the atmosphere at the altitudes that MRO is passing through to slow the spacecraft and change its orbit to the one desired for the MRO primary mission. Location Near: 90°N Season: Northern Summer Credit: NASA/JPL/MSSS, Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) entered Mars orbit on 12 September 1997. Today, we celebrate the MGS's 8th anniversary! The 8 Earth years that MGS has been in orbit span portions of 5 martian years. One of the critical science activities that the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) has been engaged in for the past 8 years has been to document daily changes in the martian weather. Each day that MOC is operating, the red and blue wide angle cameras are used to build up a daily global map. These maps provide a record of the planet's changing meteorological conditions. One of the most exciting observations that the MOC wide angle cameras have made during these 8 years is that the red planet has very repeatable weather patterns. In light of weather-related problems and disruptions that occur every year on Earth, one can only imagine how nice it would be if our planet followed a similar, repeated pattern. The four pictures shown here provide an example of one of the weather phenomena that repeat each martian year. Each picture shows the north polar region of Mars during the northern summer season. Each picture is a composite of several images acquired at different visible wavelengths to give a color view of the planet. Each picture was taken about 1 Mars year apart, and each shows an annular (circular) cloud located over the same terrain each summer. The first picture, acquired in April 1999, is actually not from the MGS MOC instrument. It was obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) and was originally released by the Space Telescope Science Institute on 19 May 1999 [ http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/1999/22/ ] |
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Mars Global Surveyor Celebra
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Mars Global Surveyor Celebrates Discovery of Deimos |
| Description |
, University of Western Ontario (London, Ontario, Canada) for his input on the geography of Deimos and the locations of Swift and Voltaire. Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems, One might say that today is Deimos' birthday. To celebrate, we present here the first and only Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image of this tiny moon. Deimos was discovered 129 years ago on 11 August 1877 (U.S. time, it was 12 August UTC), by U.S. astronomer Asaph Hall. It was the first of two major discoveries that he made that month, less than a week later, he found the other, inner martian satellite, Phobos. About a month before the 129th anniversary of its discovery, on 10 July 2006, Mars Global Surveyor was pointed away from the martian surface, out toward distant Deimos. Imaging the smaller of the two martian moons was the result of a combined effort between MGS engineers at Lockheed Martin Astronautics and MOC operations engineers at Malin Space Science Systems. When the picture was acquired, Deimos was about 22,985 kilometers (14,285 miles) from MGS. This results in an image of approximately 95 meters (about 312 feet) per pixel. Higher resolution images were obtained by the Viking orbiters in the 1970s - some of those pictures were so good that boulders could be resolved on the moon's surface. While the MOC image is at a lower resolution than the Viking data, acquiring an image of Deimos helps refine the understanding of the tiny moon's orbit and geography. The two craters, Voltaire and Swift, are presently the only craters with names on all of Deimos. Author Jonathan Swift, in his 1726 "Gulliver's Travels," had coincidentally surmised that Mars has two moons. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper right. MGS previously imaged the inner, larger moon, Phobos, on several occasions in 1998 and 2003. In 1998, MGS was in an elliptical orbit that permitted the spacecraft to actually fly past the moon, this was not done for Deimos because MGS hasn't been out past the orbit of Deimos since it arrived at the red planet in 1997. To review the MOC images of Phobos, visit: * Moons of Mars [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/themes/MOONS.html ] * 1998 First Phobos Encounter [ http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/ab1_m04/images/SP247603.html ] * 1998 Second Phobos Encounter [ http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/ab1_m04/images/SP250103.html ] * 1998 Third Phobos Encounter, first view [ http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/ab1_m04/images/SP252603.html ] * 1998 Third Phobos Encounter, second view [ http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/ab1_m04/images/SP252604.html ] * 1998 Fourth Phobos Encounter [ http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/ab1_m04/images/SP255103.html ] * 2003 view of Phobos [ http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/r03_r09/images/R06/R0600044.html ] The MGS MOC team thanks Philip J. Stooke [ http://www.ssc.uwo.ca/geography/spacemap/index.htm ] |
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| Description |
Figure C: The third picture shows a small crater on the rim of a larger crater. Only a small portion of the wall of this larger crater is captured in the image. Immediately beneath the small crater occurs a group of gullies. The presence of these gullies also supports the groundwater hypothesis because impacting meteors will fracture the rocks into which they form a crater. In this case, there would be an initial set of subsurface fractures caused by the large impact that created the original, large crater. Then, when the smaller crater formed, it would have created additional fractures in its vicinity. These extra fractures would then have provided pathways, or conduits, through which ground water would come to the surface on the wall of the larger crater, thus creating the gullies observed. One might speculate that the group of gullies was formed by the impact that made the small crater, because of the heat and fracturing of rock during the impact process. However, the gullies are much younger than the small crater, the ejecta from the small crater has been largely eroded away or buried, and the crater partially filled, while the gullies appear sharp, crisp and fresh. This is a portion of an image located near 33.9 degrees south latitude, 160 degrees west longitude, acquired on March 31, 2006. The Mars Global Surveyor mission is managed for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., a division of the California Institute of Technology, also in Pasadena. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, developed and operates the spacecraft. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, Calif., built and operates the Mars Orbiter Camera. For more information about images from the Mars Orbiter Camera, see http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html [ http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html ]. |
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First Context Camera Image o
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First Context Camera Image of Mars |
| Description |
), the second image obtained by the Context Camera, is much longer than the first: 260 kilometers (162 miles) at its widest point and about 122 kilometers (76 miles) at its narrowest, some 1,590 kilometers (988 miles) to the south. It covers an area of about 40,000 square kilometers (about 15,400 square miles). The change in width reflects a change in altitude of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as it descended southward toward the orbit's closest point to the planet. The picture is shown here at one-third its original scale because the file size is large. Figure 4: image below ( Full Res GIF 7 MB ) contains the northernmost portion of the second Context Camera image, reproduced at one-half its original scale (because of its large file size). The white box [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA08060 ] outlines the location of the first image from the orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment. The Context Camera image and the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment image were acquired simultaneously. As with the Context Camera, the first image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment was of a much lower resolution than will be obtained during the primary science phase of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission, owing to the higher altitude during this test. This figure illustrates one of the key roles that Context Camera will play during the mission -- acquiring context images for the other science instruments aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Credit: NASA/JPL/MSSS, This is the first image of Mars taken by the Context Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The spacecraft began orbiting the red planet on March 10, 2006. During its 10th close approach to Mars, on March 24, it turned its cameras to view the planet's surface. Although the images acquired were about 10 times lower in resolution than will ultimately be obtained when the spacecraft has finished reshaping its orbit for the mission's primary science phase, these test images provide important confirmation of the performance of the cameras and the spacecraft. This first image by the Context Camera includes some chaotic terrain at the east end of Mars' Valles Marineris, seen along the top (northern) edge of the image. The image has a scale of about 87 meters (285 feet) per pixel, which is 14.5 times lower resolution than will be acquired during the primary science phase. Typical images from the Context Camera acquired during that phase of the mission will have a resolution of 6 meters (20 feet) per pixel, and will cover an area about 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) wide. Note that, because these are initial, test images, there is some linear striping in the images. This results from incomplete removal of pixel-to-pixel variations in the Context Camera detector by the present calibration software. One use of the test imaging is an opportunity to fine-tune the calibrations before the primary science phase begins. Figure 1: image above ( Full Res GIF 1.9 MB ) is a comparison of a wide-angle, red-filter image from the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor (left) with the first Mars image from the Context Camera. The image from the Mars Orbiter Camera was taken the same day, but about 6.2 hours after the image from the Context Camera, at a local solar time of 1:42 p.m. The Context Camera image was taken at roughly 7:32 a.m., local solar time. Figure 2: image above ( Full Res JPEG 944 kB ) shows a color view cropped from a Mars Orbiter Camera daily global map acquired on the same day as the first two Mars images by the Context Camera. The map shows the planet as if every part could be imaged at some time between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., that is, with early afternoon illumination. The cameras on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, conversely, imaged the planet during morning hours. The Mars Orbiter Camera view was obtained about four hours later in the day than the Context Camera data. Inserted into the daily global map are two grayscale views from the Context Camera. This shows that the Context Camera began imaging when it was over the southernmost portion of the chaotic terrain at the east end of the Valles Marineris. A second image was acquired several minutes later, as Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter flew southward towards the west side of the large Argyre impact basin. The tops of the two Context Camera images were obtained about 13 minutes apart. Figure 3: image to right ( Full Res GIF 2.1 MB |
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View of Argyre Basin from Te
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View of Argyre Basin from Test of Mars Color Image |
| Description |
, three views acquired by MARCI are compared to a color composite of two views acquired about four hours later by the wide-angle imager of Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft. The MARCI imaging occurred during the morning on Mars, while the MOC observations were made at about 2 p.m. local solar time. The region of Mars imaged by MARCI was south of the Valles Marineris. It includes the Argyre Basin's interior plains, Argyre Planitia, and mountains forming the basin rim, Nereidum Montes to the northwest (middle of images) and Charitum Montes to the southeast (bottom of images). The color composite from MARCI differs from the MOC wide-angle color composite because, to create a color image with MOC data, camera-team members synthesize (fake) a green channel by adding the red and blue channels together and dividing by two. The slightly greenish tint of the MARCI image shows that the approximation used for MOC images underestimates the amount of green. The test image labeled 260 nm shows how the planet appears at an ultraviolet (UV) waveband of 260 nanometers, where ozone absorbs the UV light. Relatively darker areas in this band normally will indicate the presence of ozone, and relatively lighter areas will indicate the absence of ozone. Water vapor in Mars' atmosphere is in an inverse relationship with ozone, where there is more of one, there is less of the other. So, lighter areas in images can be used to track water vapor. The term "relatively" is used here because Mars itself is very dark in the UV owing to absorption of UV light by iron-bearing minerals, and sunlight is deficient in UV relative to visible light, so in general Mars will always look dark in the UV. A second UV band on MARCI (not shown in the figure above) at a longer wavelength allows these differences to be quantified. The MOC wide-angle image shows wispy, light water-ice clouds to the northwest of Argyre in the afternoon, but researchers cannot yet correlate these clouds with the UV information from MARCI, especially because the times of day are different. When in its final mapping orbit, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will view the same area as Mars Global Surveyor separated by only one hour, and such correlations will be much more direct. For more details of how MARCI images are acquired and processed, see the companion release, MARCI2-3 [ http://www.msss.com/others/marci_release/marci_detail/index.html ], and be certain to examine the 15.6 Mbyte animated GIF movie, . The pictures shown here are the first views of Mars acquired by the Mars Color Imager on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. This is a re-flight of a similar instrument that was aboard the Mars Climate Orbiter, which was lost in September 1999 during its orbit insertion activity. In the primary science phase of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MARCI will routinely acquire daily global maps of the planet. These data will be used to help track storms, monitor clouds and water vapor, and track seasonal changes in surface albedo (bright and dark) patterns and the polar caps. Credit: NASA/JPL/MSSS, The Mars Color Imager (MARCI) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter acquired a seven-band color, wide-angle view of Mars on March 24, 2006, as part of a checkout of the orbiter's payload. This image shows a color composite made from the MARCI red, green, and blue bands. The view looks northward and includes the large Argyre Basin in Mars' southern hemisphere. One use of the test imaging is an opportunity to fine-tune calibrations used for processing the separate bands into "true" color -- as it would appear to a human eye looking down from orbit. Further calibration will be needed. Regular use of MARCI and the other science instruments on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will begin in autumn 2006, after the spacecraft's orbit has been reshaped to a nearly circular, low-altitude path.*Full Res JPG (236 kB)* The March 24 test produced images from each color band. Illustrated here are some of these test images. In figure 1 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA08067 ] |
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Browse Image | Medium Image (129 kB) | Large (20.4 MB) Hi-Res (NASA's Planetary Photojournal) [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA08813 ] |
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Gullied Crater
PIA08078
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
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Gullied Crater |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
17 April 2006 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a 1.5 meters (~5 feet) per pixel view of a crater in the Terra Cimmeria region of Mars. Several gullies extend from near the top of the crater rim, downslope toward the floor of the crater. Liquid water might have played a role in their genesis. "Location near": 37.7°S, 191.6°W "Image width": ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": upper left "Season": Southern Summer |
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Bi-level Gullies
PIA02919
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
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Bi-level Gullies |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
15 March 2006 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows two suites of gullies within a single impact crater in the Terra Cimmeria region. The gullies near the top of the image are located on the northern wall of the crater, while the lower suite resides on a lower bench in the crater's northern wall complex. Gully erosion has cut into the layered rock exposed on the crater wall. Water may have been involved in their formation. "Location near": 38.2°S, 190.6°W "Image width": ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": upper left "Season": Southern Summer |
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Olympica Fossae
PIA08085
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Olympica Fossae |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
20 April 2006 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a complex pattern of intersecting and overlapping troughs in the Olympica Fossae region of northern Tharsis. Some combination of floods, lava flows, and faulting/tectonic activity contributed to this scene, followed by mantling by dust. Dark streaks on slopes in the troughs were formed by dust avalanches. "Location near": 24.8°N, 114.8°W "Image width": ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": lower left "Season": Northern Winter |
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Marte Vallis Textures
PIA02010
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Marte Vallis Textures |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
20 March 2006 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows platy flow surfaces in the Marte Vallis region of Mars. The origin of the flows is not well-understood, but as some Mars scientists have suggested, the flows may be the product of low viscosity (very fluid), high temperature volcanic eruptions, or perhaps they are the remains of large-scale mud flows. In either case, the materials are solid and hold a record of small meteor impact craters, thus indicating that they are not composed of ice, as still others have speculated. "Location near": 6.7°N, 182.0°W "Image width": ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": lower left "Season": Northern Winter |
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Northern Impact
PIA02009
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Northern Impact |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
19 March 2006 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a partially-buried crater in the north polar region of Mars. The circular feature is surrounded and partly overlain by some of the many, many sand dunes in the area. The steepest slopes on each dune -- their slip faces -- face toward the southeast (lower right), indicating that the dominant winds responsible for sand transport in this region come from the northwest (upper left). In summer, the dunes in this scene would be darker than their surroundings, but in this northern springtime image, the dunes and everything else in the area are covered by carbon dioxide frost. The frost is left over from the winter which ended in January 2006. "Location near": 76.0°N, 82.2°W "Image width": ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": lower left "Season": Northern Spring |
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Mars at Ls 25°: Syrtis Major
PIA02041
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
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Mars at Ls 25°: Syrtis Major |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
21 March 2006 This picture is a composite of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) daily global images acquired at Ls 25° during a previous Mars year. This month, Mars looks similar, as Ls 25° occurs in mid-March 2006. The picture shows the Syrtis Major face of Mars. Over the course of the month, additional faces of Mars as it appears at this time of year are being posted for MOC Picture of the Day. Ls, solar longitude, is a measure of the time of year on Mars. Mars travels 360° around the Sun in 1 Mars year. The year begins at Ls 0°, the start of northern spring and southern autumn. "Season": Northern Spring |
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South High-latitude Gullies
PIA02151
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
South High-latitude Gullies |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
1 February 2006 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a suite of gullies on a scarp in Lyell Crater. "Location near": 69.7°S, 14.0°W "Image width": ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": upper left "Season": Southern Summer |
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Mars at Ls 357°
PIA02150
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Mars at Ls 357° |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
31 January 2006 This picture is a composite of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) daily global images acquired at Ls 357° during a previous Mars year. This month, Mars looks similar, as Ls 357° occurred in mid-January 2006. The picture shows the south polar region of Mars. Over the course of the month, additional faces of Mars as it appears at this time of year are being posted for MOC Picture of the Day. Ls, solar longitude, is a measure of the time of year on Mars. Mars travels 360° around the Sun in 1 Mars year. The year begins at Ls 0°, the start of northern spring and southern autumn. "Season": Northern Winter/Southern Summer |
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Broken Plain
PIA02152
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Broken Plain |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
2 February 2006 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows polygonally patterned ground on the floor of a trough in the southern hemisphere of Mars. The polygons could be an indicator that ground ice is or was present at this location. The dark streaks were formed by passing dust devils. "Location near": 67.4°S, 240.3°W "Image width": ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": upper left "Season": Southern Summer |
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South Polar Terraces
PIA02168
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
South Polar Terraces |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
9 February 2006 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows layering in terrain at the high southern latitudes of Mars. South polar layers are commonly assumed to consist of varying amounts of dust and ice. An alternative explanation -- they may be exposures of ancient sedimentary rock. "Location near": 78.9°S, 10.1°W "Image width": ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": upper left "Season": Southern Summer |
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South Polar Landforms
PIA02167
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
South Polar Landforms |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
8 February 2006 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows an area adjacent to the south polar residual cap that hosts several intricate fracture networks. Each network consists of multiple fractures radiating from a central location. Their origin is not understood -- some investigators have speculated that these are sites of release of carbon dioxide from beneath the ground, but this explanation seems inadequate to explain all attributes of the features. MOC images have shown that these features have not been changing from year to year during the course of the MGS mission. "Location near": 87.1°S, 234.1°W "Image width": ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": upper left "Season": Southern Summer |
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Syrtis Crater
PIA02169
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Syrtis Crater |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
10 February 2006 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a crater that is approximately 2 km in diameter in south central Syrtis Major Planum. The image also captures a portion of the light-toned wind streak formed in the lee (to the left) of the crater. The wind streak is likely composed of a thin coating of dust. "Location near": 1.9°N, 294.0°W "Image width": ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": upper left "Season": Northern Summer |
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Valentine 2006
PIA02179
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Valentine 2006 |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
14 February 2006 Happy Valentine's Day from the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) team! This somewhat heart-shaped, eroded and partially-filled crater is located near the southeast wall of Columbus Crater in the Mare Sirenum region of Mars. North is toward the bottom/lower left. "Location near": 29.9°S, 165.2°W "Image width": 400 meter scale bar = ~1,312 feet "Illumination from": lower right "Season": Southern Autumn |
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Elysium Summit
PIA02163
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Elysium Summit |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
5 February 2006 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a channel extending northward from the Elysium Mons caldera at the volcano's summit. The north wall of the caldera -- the summit depression formed by collapse as magma withdraws? is located at the south end (bottom) of this picture. "Location near": 24.8°N, 213.3°W "Image width": ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": lower left "Season": Northern Autumn |
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Mars at Ls 12°: Acidalia/Mar
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PIA02181
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Mars at Ls 12°: Acidalia/Mare Erythraeum |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
15 February 2006 This picture is a composite of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) daily global images acquired at Ls 12° during a previous Mars year. This month, Mars looks similar, as Ls 12° occurs in mid-February 2006. The picture shows the Acidalia/Mare Erythraeum face of Mars. Over the course of the month, additional faces of Mars as it appears at this time of year are being posted for MOC Picture of the Day. Ls, solar longitude, is a measure of the time of year on Mars. Mars travels 360° around the Sun in 1 Mars year. The year begins at Ls 0°, the start of northern spring and southern autumn. "Season": Northern Winter/Southern Summer |
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Chryse Plains
PIA02178
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Chryse Plains |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
13 February 2006 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows an impact crater in western Chryse Planitia that is approximately 850 meters (~2790 ft) in diameter, surrounded by a flat plain riddled by hundreds of smaller impact craters. "Location near": 27.6°N, 47.3°W "Image width": ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": lower left "Season": Northern Winter |
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Arsia and Phobos
PIA02164
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Arsia and Phobos |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Annotated View of Arsia and Phobos 6 February 2006 This pair of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) color images shows early autumn clouds over the Arsia Mons volcano, plus the shadow of the innermost of the two martain moons, Phobos. The picture on the left is taken from the MOC daily global map acquired at 7.5 km (~4.7 mi) per pixel on 28 January 2006, about a week after the start of southern autumn. The picture on the right was taken at the same time, but at a higher resolution of 489 m (1604 ft) per pixel. Both pictures are composites of MOC red and blue wide angle images, and both are oriented such that north is up and east is to the right. Arsia Mons and the other large Tharsis volcanoes commonly develop afternoon orographic (i.e., topographically-controlled) water ice clouds at this time of year. The equatorial Tharsis volcano, Pavonis Mons, is also under a deck of water ice clouds, it is located toward the upper right corner of the left, lower-resolution image. Sunlight glints off the dusty surface and the clouds and aerosols in the atmosphere, producing the bright diagonal streak located just southeast (lower right) of Arsia Mons. A water ice haze is seen on the left side of the lower-resolution image. The dark oval to the northeast of Arsia Mons, as noted above, is the shadow of Phobos. "Location near": 9°S, 121°W "Image width": 100 km scale bar = ~62 mi, 300 km bar = ~186 mi "Illumination from": upper left "Season": Southern Autumn |
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Arsia and Phobos
PIA02164
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Arsia and Phobos |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Annotated View of Arsia and Phobos 6 February 2006 This pair of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) color images shows early autumn clouds over the Arsia Mons volcano, plus the shadow of the innermost of the two martain moons, Phobos. The picture on the left is taken from the MOC daily global map acquired at 7.5 km (~4.7 mi) per pixel on 28 January 2006, about a week after the start of southern autumn. The picture on the right was taken at the same time, but at a higher resolution of 489 m (1604 ft) per pixel. Both pictures are composites of MOC red and blue wide angle images, and both are oriented such that north is up and east is to the right. Arsia Mons and the other large Tharsis volcanoes commonly develop afternoon orographic (i.e., topographically-controlled) water ice clouds at this time of year. The equatorial Tharsis volcano, Pavonis Mons, is also under a deck of water ice clouds, it is located toward the upper right corner of the left, lower-resolution image. Sunlight glints off the dusty surface and the clouds and aerosols in the atmosphere, producing the bright diagonal streak located just southeast (lower right) of Arsia Mons. A water ice haze is seen on the left side of the lower-resolution image. The dark oval to the northeast of Arsia Mons, as noted above, is the shadow of Phobos. "Location near": 9°S, 121°W "Image width": 100 km scale bar = ~62 mi, 300 km bar = ~186 mi "Illumination from": upper left "Season": Southern Autumn |
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Streaked Plain
PIA02162
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Streaked Plain |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
4 February 2006 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows dark streaks created by dust devils on a plain southwest of Hellas Planitia. Based on the width and the length of individual streaks in this scene, it is clear that not all dust devils are created equally. "Location near": 55.8°S, 317.5°W "Image width": ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": upper left "Season": Southern Summer |
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Tithonium Landslide
PIA02177
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Tithonium Landslide |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
12 February 2006 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a portion of a large landslide deposit on the floor of western Tithonium Chasma. "Location near": 4.3°S, 87.9°W "Image width": ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": lower left "Season": Southern Summer |
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South Polar Terrain
PIA02176
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
South Polar Terrain |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
11 February 2006 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows cracked surfaces in the south polar layered terrain of Mars. The cracks in this scene have formed complex dendritic arrays. Evidence of the fracture networks is clear in the topmost layer, however, close inspection reveals traces of apparently older networks in the underlying layers. "Location near": 79.1°S, 194.2°W "Image width": ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": upper left "Season": Southern Summer |
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D and D (Dunes and Devils)
PIA02161
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
D and D (Dunes and Devils) |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
3 February 2006 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows streaks created by late spring and early summer dust devils on a field of dark sand dunes on the floor of Hooke Crater. "Location near": 45.0°S, 44.8°W "Image width": ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": upper left "Season": Southern Summer |
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Mars at Ls 12°: Tharsis
PIA02165
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Mars at Ls 12°: Tharsis |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
7 February 2006 This picture is a composite of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) daily global images acquired at Ls 12° during a previous Mars year. This month, Mars looks similar, as Ls 12° occurs in mid-February 2006. The picture shows the Tharsis face of Mars. Over the course of the month, additional faces of Mars as it appears at this time of year are being posted for MOC Picture of the Day. Ls, solar longitude, is a measure of the time of year on Mars. Mars travels 360° around the Sun in 1 Mars year. The year begins at Ls 0°, the start of northern spring and southern autumn. "Season": Northern Winter/Southern Summer |
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Mars at Ls 12°: Syrtis Major
PIA02195
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Mars at Ls 12°: Syrtis Major |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
21 February 2006 This picture is a composite of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) daily global images acquired at Ls 12° during a previous Mars year. This month, Mars looks similar, as Ls 12° occurs in mid-February 2006. The picture shows the Syrtis Major face of Mars. Over the course of the month, additional faces of Mars as it appears at this time of year are being posted for MOC Picture of the Day. Ls, solar longitude, is a measure of the time of year on Mars. Mars travels 360° around the Sun in 1 Mars year. The year begins at Ls 0°, the start of northern spring and southern autumn. "Season": Northern Winter/Southern Summer |
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Isidis Plains
PIA02184
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Isidis Plains |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
17 February 2006 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a surface in Isidis Planitia, littered with degraded impact craters. Windblown ripples of various sizes and shapes are prevalent throughout the scene as well, producing wave-like patterns on the floors of some of the larger impact craters. "Location near": 16.8°N, 266.4°W "Image width": ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": lower left "Season": Northern Winter |
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Kidney-Shaped Impact
PIA02199
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Kidney-Shaped Impact |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
23 February 2006 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows an unusally-shaped (not circular) impact crater in the Elysium region of Mars. A dark-toned lava flow surface is seen in the southern (lower) portion of the image. "Location near": 5.9°N, 220.0°W "Image width": ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": lower left "Season": Northern Winter |
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Devil-Streaked Plain
PIA02193
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Devil-Streaked Plain |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
19 February 2006 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows dark streaks on a plain south of the giant impact basin, Hellas Planitia. The streaks map the routes traveled by dozens of individual southern spring and early summer dust devils. "Location near": 68.4°S, 296.1°W "Image width": ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": upper left "Season": Southern Summer |
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A Matter of Time
PIA02183
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
A Matter of Time |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
16 February 2006 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a portion of the south polar residual cap where the effects of sublimation are apparent. Over extended periods of time, sublimation "eats" away at the smoother appearing material (largely composed of frozen carbon dioxide), darkening the scarps and creating the irregularly shaped depressions that are present throughout much of the scene. "Location near": 87.1°S, 69.3°W "Image width": ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": upper left "Season": Southern Summer |
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Smooth Transition
PIA02198
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Smooth Transition |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
22 February 2006 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a transition from one of the many layered troughs in the north polar region of Mars to the relatively homogeneous-looking upper surface of the polar cap. The difference in brightness across this scene is a function of several factors, one of which is the amount of dust versus that of ice in any given location. The bright material that dominates the scene is largely water ice. "Location near": 83.2°N, 297.8°W "Image width": ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": lower right "Season": Northern Summer |
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Isidis Landforms
PIA02192
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Isidis Landforms |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
18 February 2006 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a group of rounded hills surrounded by a vast, cratered plain in northeastern Isidis Planitia. "Location near": 16.8°N, 262.5°W "Image width": ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": lower left "Season": Northern Winter |
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Meridiani Materials
PIA02194
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Meridiani Materials |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
20 February 2006 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows layered, sedimentary rock exposures in the Sinus Meridiani region. "Location near": 4.8°N, 1.2°W "Image width": ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": lower left "Season": Northern Autumn |
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Mars at Ls 12°: Elysium/Mare
…
PIA02612
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Mars at Ls 12°: Elysium/Mare Cimmerium |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
28 February 2006 This picture is a composite of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) daily global images acquired at Ls 12° during a previous Mars year. This month, Mars looks similar, as Ls 12° occurred in mid-February 2006. The picture shows the Elysium/Mare Cimmerium face of Mars. Over the course of the month, additional faces of Mars as it appears at this time of year are being posted for MOC Picture of the Day. Ls, solar longitude, is a measure of the time of year on Mars. Mars travels 360° around the Sun in 1 Mars year. The year begins at Ls 0°, the start of northern spring and southern autumn. "Season": Northern Spring/Southern Autumn |
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Lonely Barchans
PIA02681
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Lonely Barchans |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
3 March 2006 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows two barchan dunes in the north polar region of Mars. The orientation of the dunes, with the steep faces pointed toward the southeast (lower right), indicates that the winds responsible for their formation blew from the northwest (upper left). At the time this image was acquired by MOC, the dunes and surrounding plains were covered by seasonal carbon dioxide frost. "Location near": 73.8°N, 40.8°W "Image width": ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": lower left "Season": Northern Winter |
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Argyre Bull's-Eye
PIA02613
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Argyre Bull's-Eye |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
1 March 2006 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a layered mound, buried under a thin coating of material hard enough to have been cut by shallow fractures, on the floor of the giant Argyre Basin. The material beneath the basin floor is layered, this is an eroded (and then thinly-buried) remnant of some of that layered material. "Location near": 54.2°S, 46.7°W "Image width": ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": upper left "Season": Southern Summer |
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Mars at Ls 25°: Tharsis
PIA02697
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Mars at Ls 25°: Tharsis |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
7 March 2006 This picture is a composite of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) daily global images acquired at Ls 25° during a previous Mars year. This month, Mars looks similar, as Ls 25° occurs in mid-March 2006. The picture shows the Tharsis face of Mars. Over the course of the month, additional faces of Mars as it appears at this time of year are being posted for MOC Picture of the Day. Ls, solar longitude, is a measure of the time of year on Mars. Mars travels 360° around the Sun in 1 Mars year. The year begins at Ls 0°, the start of northern spring and southern autumn. "Season": Northern Spring/Southern Autumn |
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Dune-tastic
PIA02693
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Dune-tastic |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
6 March 2006 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a frosty, springtime scene in the north polar region of Mars. The area is blanketed by a maze of sand dunes, their appearance is enhanced by subliming, seasonal carbon dioxide frost. "Location near": 80.2°N, 168.8°W "Image width": ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": lower left "Season": Northern Winter |
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Utopia Plain
PIA02692
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Utopia Plain |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
5 March 2006 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a dark-toned, cratered plain in southwest Utopia Planitia. Large, light-toned, windblown ripples reside on the floors of many of the depressions in the scene, including a long, linear, trough. "Location near": 30.3°N, 255.3°W "Image width": ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": lower left "Season": Northern Winter |
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East Cerberus
PIA02691
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
East Cerberus |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
4 March 2006 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a landscape in the eastern Cerberus region that was scoured by catastrophic floods, and later cut by a deep, dark-walled trough. The trough is radial to the Elysium volcanic region, and formed along faults in the bedrock. "Location near": 15.7°N, 196.6°W "Image width": ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": lower left "Season": Northern Winter |
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Martian Graffiti
PIA02887
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Martian Graffiti |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
9 March 2006 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a variety of textures observed on a south middle-latitude plain east-southeast of Hellas Planitia. Dark streaks left by passing dust devils are practically ubiquitous across the scene, including the transition from the texturally-smooth area (the majority of the image) onto the circular, rough feature near the right (east) edge of the image. The circular feature might once have been the site of an impact crater, perhaps this is the remains of its floor, and the rest of the crater and the rock in which it formed was removed by erosion. "Location near": 60.4°S, 242.5°W "Image width": ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": upper left "Season": Southern Summer |
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Craters and Layers
PIA02896
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Craters and Layers |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
11 March 2006 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows some typical relations between impact craters and light-toned, layered rock on Mars. The larger circular feature at the north (top) end of the image marks the location of a filled, buried crater on intermountain terrain north of Hellas Planitia. The larger crater at the southeast (lower right) corner formed by meteor impact into the layered material in which the buried crater is encased. The layered rock, in this case, has a light tone similar to the sedimentary rocks being explored by the Mars Exploration Rover, Opportunity, thousands of kilometers away in Sinus Meridiani. "Location near": 24.9°S, 299.3°W "Image width": ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": upper left "Season": Southern Summer |
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Repetition
PIA02914
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Repetition |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
12 March 2006 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a mid-summer view of layered terrain in the south polar region of Mars. The general hypothesis that has been around since the Mariner missions to Mars in the late 1960s and early 1970s is that the layered material in the polar regions is composed of some combination of dust and ice in unknown proportions. Alternatively, the layers might be ancient sedimentary rock, perhaps protected from erosion by millennia of seasonal ice caps covering the region for, roughly, half a Mars year. "Location near": 80.1°S, 259.7°W "Image width": ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": upper left "Season": Southern Summer |
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Mars at Ls 25°: Acidalia/Mar
…
PIA02918
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Mars at Ls 25°: Acidalia/Mare Erythraeum |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
14 March 2006 This picture is a composite of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) daily global images acquired at Ls 25° during a previous Mars year. This month, Mars looks similar, as Ls 25° occurs in mid-March 2006. The picture shows the Acidalia/Mare Erythraeum face of Mars. Over the course of the month, additional faces of Mars as it appears at this time of year are being posted for MOC Picture of the Day. Ls, solar longitude, is a measure of the time of year on Mars. Mars travels 360° around the Sun in 1 Mars year. The year begins at Ls 0°, the start of northern spring and southern autumn. "Season": Northern Spring/Southern Autumn |
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Martian Streaker
PIA02920
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Martian Streaker |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
16 March 2006 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a dust devil producing a track among dozens of other, preexisting streaks on a dusty, south middle-latitude plain on Mars. The dust devil is located just above (north/northwest of) a small, dark-floored crater. "Location near": 58.7°S, 141.1°W "Image width": ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": upper left "Season": Southern Summer |
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South Polar Autumn
PIA02990
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
South Polar Autumn |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
18 March 2006 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a portion of the south polar residual cap. The darkened edges of the pits and mesas are evidence of the removal - by sublimation -- of frozen carbon dioxide during the recent martian summer. Summer ended and autumn began the day this image was acquired in January 2006. "Location near": 86.8°S, 90.5°W "Image width": ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": upper left "Season": Southern Summer/Autumn |
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