PIA05919: Ares Vallis Dust Devil
 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:  512 x 768 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  Malin Space Science Systems
 Producer ID:  MOC2-724
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA05919.tif (393.8 kB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA05919.jpg (98.86 kB)

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Original Caption Released with Image:

12 May 2004
When it was operating in the Ares/Tiu Valles region of Chryse Planitia, Mars, in 1997, Mars Pathfinder detected dust devils that passed over and near the lander. From orbit, no images of dust devils at the Mars Pathfinder site have yet been acquired, but this Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a summertime dust devil near the rim of a 610-meter (~670 yards)-diameter impact crater in the same general region as the Mars Pathfinder site. This scene is near 19.6°N, 32.9°W, in part of the Ares Vallis system. The dust devil in this case is not making a streak, as dust devils tend to do in some regions of Mars. The dark feature to the right (east) of the dust devil is its shadow. This picture covers an area approximately 3 km (1.9 mi) across and is illuminated by sunlight from the left/upper left.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Image Addition Date:
2004-05-12