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, 2014 by the HiRISE camera onboard the
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the scene
spans about 1.5 kilometers.
From 250 kilometers above the Red Planet the camera is looking
down at a sand dune field in a southern highlands crater.
Captured when the Sun was about 5 degrees above the local horizon,
only the dune crests were caught in full sunlight.
A long, cold winter is coming to the
southern hemisphere and 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.
