If it's the quiet solitude
and beauty you seek, there is no better place than the surface of Mars. Mars
has earned its moniker as the red planet, but the HiRISE camera aboard NASA's
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) can transform the subtle differences of soils
into a rainbow of colours.
For 10 years, HiRISE has
recorded gorgeous - and scientifically valuable - images of Mars. Its photos
are so detailed that scientists can examine the planet's features at the scale
of just a few feet, including the recent crash site of Europe's Schiaparelli
Mars lander.
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| NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
We combed through 2,054 of
the camera's latest pictures, released in August, September, and October, to
bring you some of the best - and hopefully help you temporarily escape Earth.
A large chasm:
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| NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
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Some dark, rust-colored dunes in Russell Crater:
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NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
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NASA might land its next nuclear-powered Mars 2020 rover
mission here.
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| NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
The black splotch is where the European Space Agency's
Schiaparelli Mars lander crashed. The white specks, pointed out with arrows,
are pieces of the lander.
| NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
Zebra skin. Just kidding, this is a dune field that's
speckled with oval-shaped mineral deposits:
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NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
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False-coloring this image makes a giant dune and its
gullies look blue.
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| NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
A possible landing site for the ExoMars 2020 mission,
which the European Space Agency is running.
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| NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
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A North Pole dune field nicknamed "Kolhar,"
after Frank Herbert's fictional world.
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| NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
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Carbon dioxide that turns from solid to gas carves out
these strange shapes at Mars' south pole:
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| NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
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A recent impact crater on Mars. (We're pretty sure no one
put out a giant cigarette here.)
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| NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
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'Spiders' are eruptions of dust caused by the way the
Martian surface warms and cools:
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| NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
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| NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
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NASA keeps an eye of gullies like this for small landslides - and any water that melts in the warm sun to form darker-colored mud.
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| NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
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Another gully scientists are having HiRISE monitor:
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| NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
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Glacial terrain looks strangely iridescent:
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| NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
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A steep slope in Eastern Noctis Labyrinthus:
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NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
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| NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
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| NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
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NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
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| NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
