Status Report

NASA Mars Odyssey THEMIS image: Hecate Tholus

By SpaceRef Editor
August 20, 2004
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Medium image for 20040820A



Image Context:

Context image for 20040820A
Context image credit: NASA/Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) Team
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ParameterValue ParameterValue
Latitude29.1 &nbsp InstrumentIR
Longitude149E (211W) &nbsp Resolution (m)100
Image Size (pixels)2467×2476 &nbsp Image Size (km)246.7×247.6


Full data on this image has now been released via the THEMIS Data Releases website.



The THEMIS Image of the Day will be exploring the nomenclature of Mars for the next three weeks.

A Flash-based interactive viewer is available for this image.

Hecate Tholus

  • Tholus: small dome-shaped mountain or hill
  • Hecate: Goddess of the crossroads, ghosts and

    witchcraft. She has three heads (a dog, a

    snake, and a horse) that face three different

    directions. She is served by 2 ghost hounds..

Hecates Tholus is a volcano located north of Elysium Mons.

The image above is a mosaic of daytime IR images.

Nomenclature Fact of the Day: Many features on Io, a volcanically

active moon of Jupiter, are named for fire, sun, volcano,

and thunder goods and goddesses – or for people and places

from Dante’s Inferno.

[Source: ASU THEMIS Science Team]


Note: this THEMIS infrared image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.


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


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