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 on board 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 was coming to the
southern hemisphere and bright ridges of
seasonal frost line the martian dunes.
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter,
one
of the oldest
operating spacecraft at the Red Planet,
celebrated the 15th anniversary of its launch from planet Earth
on
August 12.
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.
