New Martian Views From Orbiting Camera Show Diversity

New Martian Views From Orbiting Camera Show Diversity
The view of oddly sculpted ground inside the giant Hellas Basin on Mars comes from the High Resolution Imaging Science Instrument on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

(PhysOrg.com) -- New images from more than 750 recent observations of Mars by an orbiting telescopic camera testify to the diversity of landscapes there.

The images from the camera on NASA's Reconnaissance Orbiter are now available on NASA's Planetary Data System and on the camera team's website.

The features visible in the images range from oddly sculpted terrain inside a giant crater to frosted dunes, deformed craters, old gullies and pits strung along fractured ground.

This new batch brings the tally from the high-resolution camera to more than 1.4 million image products derived from more than 14,200 observations. Each observation can reveal features as small as desks in areas covering several square miles.

The camera is one of six instruments on NASA's , which reached Mars in 2006.

Provided by JPL/NASA

Citation: New Martian Views From Orbiting Camera Show Diversity (2010, May 5) retrieved 25 April 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2010-05-martian-views-orbiting-camera-diversity.html
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