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> Mars: Valles Marineris

Mars: Valles Marineris

author: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin-G. Neukum/Novapix

reference: a-mar09-00170

Image Size 300 DPI: 72 * 38 cm

This mosaic image of eastern part of Valles Marineris - colored to resemble the martian surface - comes from ESA's Mars Express spacecraft, which repeatedly crosses the Martian equator from north to south or south to north. The High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board Mars Express, has been taking image strips of the valley system since 2004 as it passes overhead. The individual HRSC image strips are each between 50 and 200 kilometres wide, depending on Mars Express' orbit, so this view of Valles Marineris has only been made possible by creating a mosaic using 20 separate images. To improve the presentation here, the altitudes have been exaggerated fourfold, so that the slopes and mountainsides appear steeper than they are in reality. The colours in this image are slightly false as well. By increasing the contrast between the individual colour channels, many features of the terrain in this geologically extremely complex region that were not readily apparent can be made much more visible, as can differences in the surface composition.

Keywords for this photo:

2012 - ASTRONOMY - CANYON - MARS - MARS EXPRESS - PLANET - POSTER - VALLES MARINERIS -