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PIA08624: Spring Dunes
This image from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows dunes in the north polar region of Mars. In this scene, the dunes, and the plain on which the dunes reside, are at least in part covered by a bright carbon dioxide frost.
 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:  672 x 2261 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  Malin Space Science Systems 
 Producer ID:  MOC2-1531  
 Primary Data Set:  Cassini 
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA08624.tif (1.521 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA08624.jpg (291.3 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:

22 July 2006
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows dunes in the north polar region of Mars. In this scene, the dunes, and the plain on which the dunes reside, are at least in part covered by a bright carbon dioxide frost. Dark spots indicate areas where the frost has begun to change, either by subliming away to expose dark sand, changing to a coarser particle size, or both. The winds responsible for the formation of these dunes blew from the lower left (southwest) toward the upper right (northeast).

Location near: 76.3°N, 261.2°W
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi)
Illumination from: lower left
Season: Northern Spring

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Image Addition Date:
2006-07-22