by What it is: Dunes on Mars
Where it is: Around Planum Boreum, the North Pole ice cap on Mars
When it was shared: 6 August 2024
Why it is so special: This week, researchers at the University of Arizona (UA) released one of the most beautiful images of dunes on the surface of Mars ever taken. The team captured the image using the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera, operated by UA scientists and installed aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
As MRO orbits the Red Planet, it will look for evidence that water was once widespread on Mars’ surface and track how much dust and water is distributed throughout its atmosphere, so NASA. Originally recorded on September 1, 2008 and shared again this weekThis image shows a dune field near the base of Mars’ north polar ice cap, Planum Boreum. It is about 1,000 kilometers across and contains canyons, ravines and spiral troughs, so NASAThe ice cap is surrounded by large, windblown dune fields that may have formed from dusty ice layers eroded by strong polar winds.
Related: Bizarre sand dunes on Mars are “almost perfectly circular” and scientists don’t know why
In this image, winds from the polar cap have created long, parallel dunes nearby and crescent-shaped dunes farther away. The dunes are not frosty because the image was taken in summer in Mars’ northern hemisphere.
MRO delivers the most beautiful, extreme close-ups of the Martian surface. Previous images include almost perfectly circular Sand dunes and Stones that look like a teddy bear.
MRO launched on August 12, 2005, and began orbiting Mars on March 12, 2006. Its primary mission ended in 2010, but it is still part of NASA’s communications network on Mars, sending back images from HiRISE. UAs Lunar Planet Laboratory plans the images from HiRISE, sends commands and processes raw data into images.
