NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Arsia & Phobos
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1365, 6 February 2006
Arsia Mons with water ice clouds and shadow of Phobos on 28 January 2006.
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NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
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This pair of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
color images shows early autumn clouds over the Arsia Mons
volcano, plus the shadow of the innermost of the two martain
moons, Phobos. The picture on the left is taken from the MOC
daily global map acquired at 7.5 km (~4.7 mi) per pixel on
28 January 2006, about a week after the start of southern
autumn. The picture on the right was taken at the same time,
but at a higher resolution of 489 m (1604 ft) per pixel.
Both pictures are composites of MOC red and blue wide angle
images, and both are oriented such that north is up and east
is to the right. Arsia Mons and the other large Tharsis volcanoes
commonly develop afternoon orographic (i.e.,
topographically-controlled) water ice clouds at this time of year.
The equatorial Tharsis volcano, Pavonis Mons, is also under a deck
of water ice clouds; it is located toward the upper right corner of
the left, lower-resolution image.
Sunlight glints off the dusty surface and the clouds and
aerosols in the atmosphere,
producing the bright diagonal streak located just southeast
(lower right) of Arsia Mons. A water ice haze is seen on the
left side of the lower-resolution image. The dark oval to
the northeast of Arsia Mons, as noted above, is the shadow
of Phobos.
Additional View:
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Location near: 9°S, 121°W
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100 km scale bar = ~62 mi; 300 km bar = ~186 mi
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Illumination from: upper left
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Season: Southern Autumn
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Tips for Media Use
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.