PIA08091: CO2 Hourglass
This NASA Mars Global Surveyor image shows a portion of the south polar residual cap of Mars. The bright, relatively homogeneous-appearing material extending from top (north) to bottom (south) is mainly composed of solid carbon dioxide.
 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:  2048 x 3180 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  Malin Space Science Systems 
 Producer ID:  MOC2-1442  
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA08091.tif (6.519 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA08091.jpg (620.1 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:

24 April 2006
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a portion of the south polar residual cap of Mars. The bright, relatively homogeneous-appearing material extending from top (north) to bottom (south) is mainly composed of solid carbon dioxide. During the martian summer months, sublimation, the direct conversion of a solid to a gas, causes the scarps that delineate the edges of the bright material to retreat by approximately 3 meters (around 10 feet) before autumn begins.

Location near: 87.1°S, 94.0°W
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi)
Illumination from: upper left
Season: Southern Summer

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Image Addition Date:
2006-04-24