Thursday, August 2, 2007

Schiaparelli


Credit: NASA

Finally, the missing hemispherical view. I knew I was missing one, but the original website where I got the previous three was missing the fourth for some reason. Anyway, here it is: the Schiaparelli hemisphere. Like the Valles Marineris, Syrtis Major and Cerberus mosaics, this mosaic is also composed from 100 or so photos from the two Viking Orbiters back in February 1980, when the season was early summer in the northern hemisphere. The view is how one would see Mars from 2,500 km above the surface.

The large crater at the center of the image is the 470 km diameter Schiaparelli. At upper left is the Oxia Palus region, exibiting many dark streaks with bright margins, caused by deposition and erosion due to wind. At the extreme lower right is Hellas Planitia; the white is due to carbon dioxide frost. The large crater at upper right is Cassini in the Arabia Terra region.

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