This view of Olympus Mons was constructed by combining the Viking color texture with MOLA altimetry data. There is no vertical exaggeration applied to the surface displacement.
Completed
2000-03-09
Olympus Mons, 1998 (color)
PIA01476
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
Title
Olympus Mons, 1998 (color)
Original Caption Released with Image
Olympus Mons is a mountain of mystery. Taller than three Mount Everests and about as wide as the entire Hawaiian Island chain, this giant volcano is nearly as flat as a pancake. That is, its flanks typically only slope 2° to 5°. The Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) obtained this spectacular wide-angle view of Olympus Mons on Mars Global Surveyor's 263rd orbit, around 10:40 p.m. PDT on April 25, 1998. In the view presented here, north is to the left and east is up. The spacecraft was traveling from north to south (left to right). Although the camera looks straight down (towards the "nadir") and cannot be pointed to the side, the wide angle camera has such a large field of view (it sees from horizon to horizon) that, in effect, it provides side looking views. Unlike some other MOC images, that have had to be warped to provide a view as if seen from a certain direction and altitude, this image shows what the camera saw without additional processing. It is easy to imagine that you are looking out a window at the surface of Mars from about 900 km (560 miles) up. The image was taken on a cool, crisp winter morning. The west side of the volcano (lower portion of view, above) was clear and details on the surface appear very sharp. The skies above the plains to the east of Olympus Mons (upper portion of view) were cloudy. Clouds were lapping against the lower east flanks of this 26 kilometers (16 miles) high volcano, but the summit skies were clear. When Mars Global Surveyor attains its Mapping Orbit in March 1999, the MOC wide angle camera system will be used to make daily, global maps of martian clouds and weather systems. The wide angle images will resemble weather satellite pictures of Earth, and will help the Mars science teams plan their observations and test computer-driven Mars weather prediction models. Malin Space Science Systems and the California Institute of Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO.
Multiwavelength M81
Title
Multiwavelength M81
Description
This beautiful galaxy is tilted at an oblique angle on to our line of sight, giving a "birds-eye view" of the spiral structure. The galaxy is similar to our Milky Way, but our favorable view provides a better picture of the typical architecture of spiral galaxies. M81 may be undergoing a surge of star formation along the spiral arms due to a close encounter it may have had with its nearby spiral galaxy NGC 3077 and a nearby starburst galaxy (M82) about 300 million years ago. M81 is one of the brightest galaxies that can be seen from the Earth. It is high in the northern sky in the circumpolar constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear. At an apparent magnitude of 6.8 it is just at the limit of naked-eye visibility. The galaxy's angular size is about the same as that of the Full Moon. This image combines data from the Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) missions. The GALEX ultraviolet data were from the far-UV portion of the spectrum (135 to 175 nanometers). The Spitzer infrared data were taken with the IRAC 4 detector (8 microns). The Hubble data were taken at the blue portion of the spectrum.
General Description
International Space Station Imagery
Steamy Solar System
Title
Steamy Solar System
Description
This diagram illustrates the earliest journeys of water in a young, forming star system. Stars are born out of icy cocoons of gas and dust. As the cocoon collapses under its own weight in an inside-out fashion, a stellar embryo forms at the center surrounded by a dense, dusty disk. The stellar embryo "feeds" from the disk for a few million years, while material in the disk begins to clump together to form planets. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope was able to probe a crucial phase of this stellar evolution -- a time when the cocoon is vigorously falling onto the pre-planetary disk. The infrared telescope detected water vapor as it smacks down on a disk circling a forming star called NGC 1333-IRAS 4B. This vapor started out as ice in the outer envelope, but vaporized upon its arrival at the disk. By analyzing the water in the system, astronomers were also able learn about other characteristics of the disk, such as its size, density and temperature. How did Spitzer see the water vapor deep in the NGC 1333-IRAS 4B system? This is most likely because the system is oriented in just the right way, such that its thicker disk is seen face-on from our Earthly perspective. In this "face-on" orientation, Spitzer can peer through a window carved by an outflow of material from the embryonic star. This system in this drawing is shown in the opposite "edge-on" configuration.
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