PIA03980: South Polar Polygons
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows a polgyon-cracked surface, into which deep, somewhat kidney-bean-shaped pits have formed. These are landscapes of the martian south polar residual cap.
 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 2506 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  Malin Space Science Systems 
 Producer ID:  MOC2-1142  
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA03980.tif (2.569 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA03980.jpg (228.2 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:

4 July 2005
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a polgyon-cracked surface, into which deep, somewhat kidney-bean-shaped pits have formed. These are landscapes of the martian south polar residual cap. This view was captured during May 2005.

Location near: 86.9°S, 5.1°W
Image width: ~1.5 km (~0.9 mi)
Illumination from: upper left
Season Southern Spring

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Image Addition Date:
2005-07-04