PIA02990: South Polar Autumn
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows a portion of Mars' south polar residual cap. The darkened edges of the pits and mesas are evidence of the removal, by sublimation, of frozen carbon dioxide during the martian summer.
 Target Name:  Mars
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) 
 Spacecraft:  Mars Global Surveyor Orbiter
 Instrument:  Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) 
 Product Size:  672 x 1064 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  Malin Space Science Systems 
 Producer ID:  MOC2-1405  
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA02990.tif (716 kB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA02990.jpg (181.6 kB)  

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Original Caption Released with Image:

18 March 2006
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a portion of the south polar residual cap. The darkened edges of the pits and mesas are evidence of the removal - by sublimation -- of frozen carbon dioxide during the recent martian summer. Summer ended and autumn began the day this image was acquired in January 2006.

Location near: 86.8°S, 90.5°W
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi)
Illumination from: upper left
Season: Southern Summer/Autumn

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Image Addition Date:
2006-03-18