PIA05281: Exhuming South Polar Crater
 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 1254 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  Malin Space Science Systems
 Producer ID:  MOC2-629
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA05281.tif (1.05 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA05281.jpg (198.4 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:

7 February 2004
The large, circular feature in this image is an old meteor impact crater. The crater is larger than the 3 kilometers-wide (1.9 miles-wide) Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image, thus only part of the crater is seen. The bright mesas full of pits and holes--in some areas resembling swiss cheese--are composed of frozen carbon dioxide. In this summertime view, the mesa slopes and pit walls are darkened as sunlight causes some of the ice to sublime away. At one time in the past, the crater shown here may have been completely covered with carbon dioxide ice, but, over time, it has been exhumed as the ice sublimes a little bit more each summer. The crater is located near 86.8°S, 111.6°W. Sunlight illuminates this scene from the upper left.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Image Addition Date:
2004-02-07