Saturday, August 15, 2009

What Mars is Really Like!


NASA has released stunning photographs of the planet Mars. Taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the views are amazing! Some show the Victoria crater which has been explored close up by a rover vehicle for two years. Another shows a dust devil in the Martian atmosphere.

The new oblique view of Victoria Crater shows layers on steep crater walls, difficult to see from straight overhead, plus wheel tracks left by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity between September 2006 and August 2008. The orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera shot it at an angle comparable to looking at landscape from an airplane window. Some of the camera's earlier, less angled images of Victoria Crater aided the rover team in choosing safe routes for Opportunity and contributed to joint scientific studies.

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