Martian Chiaroscuro
Explanation:
Deep shadows create
dramatic contrasts between light and dark in
this
high-resolution close-up of the martian surface.
Recorded on January 24 by the HiRISE camera onboard the
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the scene
spans about 1.5 kilometers across a sand dune field in a
southern highlands crater.
Captured when the Sun was just 5 degrees above the local horizon,
only the dune crests are caught in full sunlight.
With the long, cold winter approaching the red planet's southern
hemisphere, bright ridges of
seasonal
frost line the martian dunes.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
