PIA06354: Loire Dust Devil
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows a fuzzy, nearly-circular bright, active dust devil making its way across the rugged terrain of the Loire Vallis system on Mars.
 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 1635 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  Malin Space Science Systems 
 Producer ID:  MOC2-1231  
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA06354.tif (1.369 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA06354.jpg (192.3 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:

25 September 2005
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows an active dust devil making its way across the rugged terrain of the Loire Vallis system. The dust devil, seen as a fuzzy, nearly-circular bright feature near the center of the picture, is casting a shadow toward the right/upper right (east/northeast). Unlike some martian dust devils, this one did not make a dark streak on the ground. Many more dust devils occur on Mars than there are dust devil streaks observed on the planet's surface.

Location near: 18.2°S, 16.5°W
Image width: width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi)
Illumination from: lower left
Season: Southern Spring

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Image Addition Date:
2005-09-25