NASA Mars Odyssey THEMIS Image: Scylla Scopulus

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Context image credit: NASA/Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) Team
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The THEMIS Image of the Day will be exploring the nomenclature of Mars for the next three weeks.

Scylla Scopulus

• Scolupus: lobate of irregular scarp
• Scylla: The nymph Scylla was turned into a 6-headed

  monster by the sorceress Circe. As a monster

  Scylla ate six of Odysseus’ crewmen in Homer’s

  Odyssey.

Scylla Scopulus is an irregular scarp located in the southern

highlands of Mars. The arrows on the daytime IR image

are pointing to the scarp where it crosses the image.

Scylla Scopulus faces eastward, while Charybdis Scopulus

[located to the east of Scylla] faces westward.

Nomenclature Fact of the Day: The asteroid Gaspra was named for a

spa in the Crimea, so its craters are named for spas

worldwide.

[Source: ASU THEMIS Science Team]

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA’s Office of Space Science, 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.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Arizona State University