PUT ON A HAPPY FACE
The "Happy Face Crater" - officially named Galle
Crater - puts a humorous spin on the "Face on Mars"
controversy. This image was provided by the Mars
Global Surveyor orbiter.
GRAND CANYON
This is a composite of Viking orbiter images that shows
the Valles Marineris canyon system. The entire system
measures more than 1,875 miles long and has an average
depth of 5 miles.
THE FACE OF MARS
The Hubble Space Telescope focuses on the full disk of
Mars, with a head-on view of a dark feature known as
Syrtis Major. Hubble astronomers could make out features
as small as 12 miles wide.
RED ROVER
A mosaic of eight pictures shows the Pathfinder probe"s
Sojourner rover just after it rolled off its ramp. At lower
right you can see one of the airbags that cushioned
Pathfinder"s landing on July 4,
1997.
TWIN PEAKS AT THEIR PEAK
The Pathfinder probe focuses on Twin Peaks, two hills of
modest height on the Martian horizon. Each peak rises
about 100 feet above the surrounding rock-littered
terrain.
A monster of a mountain
Mars" highest mountain, an inactive volcano
dubbed Olympus Mons, rises as high as three
Everests and covers roughly the same area as
the state of Arizona. Mars Global Surveyor took
this wide-angle
view.
FROM MARS WITH LOVE
This valentine from Mars, as seen by Mars Global
Surveyor, is actually a pit formed by a collapse within a
straight-walled trough known in geological terms as a
graben. The pit spans 1.4 miles at its widest point.
SANDY SWIRLS
An image taken by Mars Global Surveyor shows a section
of the northern sand dunes on Mars" surface. The dunes,
composed of dark sand grains, encircle the north polar
cap.
BLUE HORIZON
A Martian sunset reverses the colors you"d expect on
Earth: Most of the sky is colored by reddish dust hanging
in the atmosphere, but the scattering of light creates a blue
halo around the sun itself.