In this stunning image taken by ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft, Mars is seen with north at the bottom, and the equator at the top.
A stunning view of Mars from the north pole to the equator. Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.
The image was taken on June 19, 2017, for calibrating Mars Express’ High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC), while the spacecraft was flying from north to south.
HRSC’s nine channels — one nadir (downward-pointing), four color and four stereo — panned over the Martian surface to record a large area with the same illumination conditions. At the same time, HRSC was shifted to the horizon, instead of just pointing to the surface as in routine imaging.
The result is this wide-angle view of the Red Planet, with the illuminated horizon near the equator at the top of the image, and the shadowed north pole at the bottom.
“The northern polar cap was composed of water ice and dust at the time of imaging, at the beginning of spring,” Mars Express scientists said.
“The carbon dioxide ice present in winter had already evaporated from the solid form to a gas. Similarly, water-ice also evaporates, injecting a large amount of water into the atmosphere that is circulated to the south by atmospheric motions. When the seasons change back, carbon dioxide frost and water-ice build up again.”
This map shows the context of the above image outlined by the large highlighted central swath, and the topography of the region. The colors relate to the elevation of the landscape: purple and blue are the lowest and red/brown/white are the highest (values are marked on the scale at bottom left). In this map, north is at the bottom, and south is towards the top. The map is based on data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter of NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor. Image credit: NASA / MGS / MOLA Science Team / FU Berlin.
Panning south, the view soaks up sights of some of the planet’s largest volcanoes in the Tharsis region.
The region covers an area larger than Europe, and rises some 3.1 miles (5 km) above the planet’s average elevation, with volcanoes towering 6.2-13.7 miles (10-22 km) in height.
Olympus Mons, the largest volcano on Mars and in the Solar System, is out of view in the scene, leaving a vast shield volcano called Alba Mons to take center stage in the top half of the image.
“Alba Mons lies at the edge of the Tharsis uplift, and a number of parallel linear features can be seen around it, their formation tied to the tectonic stresses of the Tharsis bulge,” the researchers said.
“As this region swelled with magma in the planet’s first billion years of history the crust was stretched apart. Later, when subsurface magma chambers were discharged, subsidence of the crust also generated fractures.”
Further towards the horizon, the 9.3-mile (15 km) high Ascraeus Mons comes into view, on this occasion covered by hazy clouds. Thin layers of clouds can also be seen several tens of miles above the horizon.
Other volcanoes can also be seen to the left of Ascraeus Mons, including Uranius Mons, Ceraunius Tholus and Tharsis Tholus.
