PIA03589: Light-toned Rocks
 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:  1024 x 2096 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  Malin Space Science Systems
 Producer ID:  MOC2-1290
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA03589.tif (2.149 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA03589.jpg (373.6 kB)

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

23 November 2005
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows light-toned rock outcrops in northeastern Sinus Meridiani. The entire northern Sinus Meridiani region has vast exposures of light-toned, layered rock, covering an area many times greater than that of all the famous sandstone, limestone, and shale outcrops of northern Arizona and southeastern Utah. The rocks in this image are probably similar to those explored by the Mars Exploration Rover, Opportunity, but probably are of a different age and position in the region's geologic history.

MGS MOC and Mars Odyssey THEMIS images were recently used to describe the complex geology of the Sinus Meridiani region, as detailed in the open access Mars journal article, "The sedimentary rocks of Sinus Meridiani: Five key observations from data acquired by the Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Odyssey orbiters," by Malin Space Science Systems' K. S. Edgett. The paper is available at: doi:10.1555/mars.2005.0002.

Location near: 0.3°S, 356.0°W
Image width: width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi)
Illumination from: lower left
Season: Southern Summer

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Image Addition Date:
2005-11-23