PIA03269: Dunes in Noachis
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows a portion of a dark sand dune field in a crater in the Noachis Terra region. Martian dunes are darker than their typical terrestrial counterparts as they contain minerals with a higher abundance of iron and magnesium.
 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:  836 x 4218 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  Malin Space Science Systems 
 Producer ID:  MOC2-1330  
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA03269.tif (3.53 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA03269.jpg (369.1 kB)  

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Original Caption Released with Image:

2 January 2006
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a portion of a dark sand dune field in a crater in the Noachis Terra region. Martian dunes are darker than their typical terrestrial counterparts because they contain minerals with a higher abundance of iron and magnesium, and somewhat lower amounts of silica.

Location near: 45.4°S, 331.1°W
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi)
Illumination from: upper left
Season: Southern Spring

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Image Addition Date:
2006-01-02