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The 10 Best Mars Images Ever
By Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer
posted: 07:00 am ET
03 December 2002
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3-D
Views
Click to enlarge
Not all Mars imagery involves
photographs, of course. In fact, scientists use other data to create images that
fuel much of the best science going.
In the case of this image,
data from missions separated by decades were put together to generate the first
3-D view of the north polar region of Mars.
"This is an image of the north
pole that we constructed early in the Mars Global Surveyor mission from MOLA [Mars
Orbiter Laser Altimeter ] laser shots and color from Viking mosaics," explained
Maria Zuber of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "It is relatively low
resolution but it represented the first three-dimensional perspective of the polar
regions of Mars and it has always been one of my favorites."
Ours, too.
The bonus image at right (we
just could not stick with 10) is a favorite of David E. Smith, the principal
investigator for MOLA at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. MOLA data was used
to show this 930-mile (1,500-kilometer) stretch of the complex Valles Marineris
canyon.
Click to enlarge |
Red shows high areas. Blue
regions are the lowest. The canyon has a depth of about 3.7 miles (6 kilometers)
on the left and more than 6.2 miles (10 kilometers) at the right side of the image,
Smith said. It varies in width from about 62 to 124 miles (100 to 200 kilometers).
Scientists have used MOLA
data to get a more accurate view of the planet's surface structure and to figure
out where water might once have ponded and where it would have flowed. Artists
have used MOLA data to generate computer-reality images of Mars
today and in
the past, when there might have been surface water.
Next Page: Oh, What
Detail!
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