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PIA08102: Russell Extravaganza
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows dark-toned sand dunes on the floor of Russell Crater in south-central, Noachis Terra 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:  1024 x 1656 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  Malin Space Science Systems 
 Producer ID:  MOC2-1444  
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA08102.tif (1.698 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA08102.jpg (166.1 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:

26 April 2006
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows dark-toned sand dunes on the floor of Russell Crater in south-central, Noachis Terra. A dune at the right (east) edge of the image is host to several small gullies whose channels extend predominantly to the west-southwest. The formation of these features is not well-understood, but they might result from a combination of downslope movement of sand and a lubricating agent, perhaps carbon dioxide gas or water that had been trapped in the dune as ice. The randomly-oriented dark streaks seen on the dunes and on the interdune surfaces were created by the passage of spring and summertime dust devils.

Location near: 54.7°S, 347.4°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:
2006-04-25