NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Charitum Montes

This is a perspective view of the Charitum Montes, the mountain
range that bounds southern Argyre Planitia, created by combining
red and blue Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
wide angle images with topography from the MGS Mars Orbiter
Laser Altimeter (MOLA). Carbon dioxide frost coats some
of the hills, craters, and mountainsides in this southern
springtime image. The picture is located near 57°S, 43°W.
North is toward the top, south toward the bottom. Sunlight illuminates
the scene from the upper left. The area shown is about
355 km (220 miles) wide. A smaller portion of this image was
previously released in July 2003 as
“Frosty Mountains.”

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.