Context image

Different lighting can hide or reveal different features on the surface of Mars. In today's VIS image, the lighting was perfect to reveal the details of the layering of the south polar cap.

Orbit Number: 41762 Latitude: -86.0077 Longitude: 101.902 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2011-05-14 23:17

Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.