Less sinister than its
infamous Red Planet companion, this smiling Martian was called the "Happy
Face Crater" by scientists who spotted it. This image was made in 1999 by
the Mars Orbiter Camera onboard the Mars Global Surveyor.
The contented crater sits
on the east side of Argyre Planitia. Its official name is the Galle Crater, and
it is about 134 miles (215 kilometers) across. The bluish-white tone is caused
by wintertime frost.
The smiling crater was
first seen, in black and white (below), by the Viking Orbiter back in the
1970s.
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