Rock formation in Gale Crater, Mars
Tilted and broken blocks of rock
seen by Curiosity during its drive to Glenelg.
This color mosaic of nine Mastcam 100 mm images shows an interesting rock formation seen by Curiosity on Sol 39 (September 15, 2012) during its drive to Glenelg.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems/Mosaic by astroarts.org
off
Landslide in Valles Marineris
Landslide at the 5 km high south wall
of Ganges Chasma.
Although Valles Marineris originated as a tectonic structure, it has been modified by other processes. This image shows a close-up view of a landslide at the 5 km high south wall of Ganges Chasma.
The unnamed impact crater on the plateau, which is a part of Aurorae Planum, is approximately 27 km in diameter. The floor of the crater is smooth and flat, so it seems likely that the interior of this crater has been partly filled with basalts or with sand and dust blown by wind. The landslide partially removed the rim of the crater.
The debris apron appears to have formed by collapse of the slump blocks at the base of the wall and extends about 40 kilometers across the floor of Ganges Chasma.
The landslides in Valles Marineris generally show few meteorite impact craters, and so are quite young; they probably formed in the Amazonian Epoch of Mars’ history, some 1.8 billion years ago.
Viking 1 Orbiter image f014a30, taken on July 4, 1976.
The image covers a length of approximately 60 kilometers.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Arizona State University/astroarts.org
off
Color mosaic of Olympus Mons
Color mosaic of the Martian Olympus Mons volcano
and its surrounding plains.
Mosaic of the Martian Olympus Mons volcano and its surrounding plains made from two color composites using the following Viking 1 Orbiter images:
f735a41 and f735a42 (violet), f735a45 and f735a46 (green), f735a47 and f735a48 (red).
These images were taken on June 22, 1978.
The mosaic covers an area of nearly 1,600 x 800 kilometers. North is right and west is up.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Arizona State University/Mosaic by astroarts.org
off
Saturn above Rhea’s Horizon
Saturn as viewed from Rhea.
This image shows Saturn above Rhea’s horizon and is an artistic combination of the following two images:
- Saturn with the big white storm on its northern hemisphere, taken by the Cassini spacecraft on January 02, 2011, from a mean distance of 2,556,958 kilometers.
Raw images taken using CB2, GRN and BL1 filters were combined to create this color view.
The color composite was rotated 180 degrees, cropped, downsized and blurred using Gaussian blur. - The surface of Saturn’s moon Rhea, taken by the Cassini spacecraft on January 11, 2011,
from a distance of about 200 kilometers.
The image was rotated 127 degrees counterclockwise, cropped, sharpened and slightly colorized.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute/Montage by astroarts.org
off
Ariel, moon of Uranus
Voyager 2 image mosaic of Ariel.
Mosaic of the four high-resolution images C2684533, C2684535, C2684537 and C2684539 of Ariel,
taken by Voyager 2 on January 24, 1986, at a distance of about 130,000 kilometers.
Ariel is about 1,200 km in diameter.
The most notable features on this moon are the interconnected rift valleys that run across the highly pitted terrain. Some of the valleys are up to 10 km deep. They have formed as a result of expansion and stretching of Ariel’s crust.
Two of the Voyager images covering the terminator on the right are somewhat blurred due to the spacecraft’s motion and the longer exposure times of the camera. This could not be completely corrected during image processing.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Mosaic by astroarts.org
off