NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Eyes of Ganges
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1318, 21 December 2005
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows eroded, light-toned layered rock outcrops on the side of a large mound in Ganges Chasma, part of the vast Valles Marineris trough system. Perhaps a testament to the inherent human (and primate) ability to pick out faces where partially hidden from view (even when a face is not really there)—near the top of this picture are two features, each a product of erosion, resembling a pair of human eyes. This picture was acquired in late November 2005. |
Location near: 7.1°S, 49.4°W |
Image width: 0.55 km (~0.3 mi) |
Illumination from: left/lower left |
Season: Southern Summer |
Malin Space Science Systems and the California Institute of Technology
built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission.
MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, California.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Mars Surveyor Operations Project
operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial
partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena,
California and Denver, Colorado.
