Mars Geological Features

Aerial Mars images showcasing complex landforms and gullies, suggesting ancient water activity. Varied textures with rich colors depict diverse Martian landscapes.

HiRISE has been operating since 2006, and lately many of our observations of gullies are repeat images designed to study changes. However, we are also collecting data over gullies never before seen at this resolution, to study their morphology and allow us to look for changes in the future. This is the first HiRISE look at a cluster of gullies that appear modified or degradedthe gully fans have ripples and ridges that have formed since the last major gully activity, suggesting that they don't change very often, but we won't know for sure unless we look!
HiRISE has been operating since 2006, and lately many of our observations of gullies are repeat images designed to study changes. However, we are also collecting data over gullies never before seen at this resolution, to study their morphology and allow us to look for changes in the future. This is the first HiRISE look at a cluster of gullies that appear modified or degradedthe gully fans have ripples and ridges that have formed since the last major gully activity, suggesting that they don't change very often, but we won't know for sure unless we look!
274 assets in this story
6145-45112134
Captured by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft, shown here are bizarre landforms in Gorgonum Basin. This basin may have contained an ancient lake, with channels draining into the lake from the sides.
6145-58971952
HiRISE has been operating since 2006, and lately many of our observations of gullies are repeat images designed to study changes. However, we are also collecting data over gullies never before seen at this resolution, to study their morphology and allow us to look for changes in the future. This is the first HiRISE look at a cluster of gullies that appear modified or degradedthe gully fans have ripples and ridges that have formed since the last major gully activity, suggesting that they don't change very often, but we won't know for sure unless we look!
6145-45089576
Gullies are commonly found in the southern mid-latitudes of Mars. In this image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter they start near top of a long ridge, and descend into an impact crater that lies at the bottom of the ridge.
6145-45118943
The THEMIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of the interior deposit of Firsoff Crater.
6145-44811017
This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a portion of the floor in Palos Crater on equatorial Mars. The floor appears bumpy with high-standing layered knobs; most of its terrain is weathering into meter-size (yard-size) polygonal blocks.
6145-45086453
The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. This false color image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of the floor of Pollack Crater.
6145-44483608
The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. The linear depressions in today's false color image are part of Nili Fossae. Nili Fossae is a collection of curved faults and down-dropped blocks of crust between the faults. The fossae, or graben, lie northeast of the large volcano Syrtis Major and northwest of the ancient impact basin Isidis Planitia. The troughs, which can be almost 500 meters (1,600 feet) deep , make concentric curves that follow the outline of Isidis Planitia. The graben likely formed as the crust sagged under the weight of lava flows filling the Isidis Planitia impact basin. The THEMIS VIS camera is capable of capturing color images of the Martian surface using five different color filters. In this mode of operation, the spatial resolution and coverage of the image
6145-45263619
This is a false color image of the dune field in the Arabia Terra crater. In this combination of bands, sand appears as a blue to dark blue color. In this image, the smaller areas of sand are easily visible and indicate the large amount of available material for creating dunes. Located in eastern Arabia is an unnamed crater, 120 kilometers (75 miles) across. The floor of this crater contains a large exposure of rocky material, a field of dark sand dunes, and numerous patches of what is probably fine-grain sand. The shape of the dunes indicate that prevailing winds have come from different directions over the years. The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. The Odyssey spacecraft has spent over 15 years in orbit around Mars, circling the planet more than 71,000 times. It holds th
6145-45297965
This false color image shows part of the floor of Hale Crater and the elongate axis of the central peak mountains. Hale Crater is an example of an oblique impact crater. The mountain chain trends from the southeast towards the northwest, increasing in height towards the northwest. The incoming meteor struck the surface along this trend, forming an oval crater and displacing the impact energy forward to create the central mountain range. Hale Crater is 150 km x 125 km in diameter (93 miles x 77 miles) and is located near the northern part of Argye Plainitia. The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Orbit Number 66105 Latitude -35.5732 Longitude 323.646 Instrument VIS Captured 2016-11-07 23 04
6145-45089316
This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows dark dunes in the western Medusae Fossae. This image shows no large dunes, but many of the dark sand patches cover slopes up to discrete layers.
6145-45264286
converted PNM file
6145-45299285
Scientists have come to realize that, just below the surface, about one third of Mars is covered in ice. We study this ice to learn about Mars' ancient climate and astronauts' future water supplies. Sometimes we see the buried ice because cliffs form like the one in this image. On the brownish, dusty cliff wall, the faint light-blue-colored ice shows through. Some of these cliffs change before our eyes and boulders of ice can tumble downhill. We take repeat images of these scenes to check for changes like this.
6145-45092574
This highly tectonized terrain (meaning it possesses many faults), as seen by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, has its low-lying areas filled with some form of younger material.
6145-54676711
Gully Activity in Triolet Crater. Gullies lying on the northeast slopes of Triolet Crater (about 11.6 km in diameter ), are located in the Southern Highlands just east of Gorgonum Chaos. Some gullies have eroded through resistant layers up to the crater rim. At the downslope are fans of debris that overlap with those of nearby gully systems, suggesting that there were multiple periods of gully activity in this region. Just south of the gullies is a large fracture that cuts through the crater rim. This fracture is part of the Sirenum Fossae system that slices across the region for over 1,000 kilometers from the northeast to the southwest. Because this fracture (or fossae ) cuts through the rim and ejecta blanket of Triolet Crater, this means that the crater is older than the fracture. This is known as a cross-cutting relationship and demonstrates a basic principle in geology known as the law of superposition. https //photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25708
6145-44953080
This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a well-preserved impact crater. A closeup view highlights distinctive bright lines and spots on the steep slope on the north side.
6145-45102710
Schaeberle Crater is a large, heavily-infilled crater with many interesting features. This image NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft shows a window into the crater fill deposit, showcasing eroding bedrock and aeolian landforms.
6145-44630883
Iani Chaos - Another View In False Color
6145-45260948
On Mars, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter often sees inverted river channels preserved perched above the surrounding terrain because the sediment inside the river channel was stronger than its surroundings. This is common in the American Southwest in places where lava flowed down river channels and the surrounding sandstone subsequently eroded away leaving ridges in places that started as valleys. There's another example of high-standing columns protected by a strong cap rock, called hoodoos. Looking more closely at our image, we see what looks like a crater and its rays of ejecta, preserved and slightly higher than the surrounding terrain, possibly due to a similar process.
6145-45094162
The focus of this image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is on the western end of a fan-shaped landform, located at the end point of a sinuous valley.
6145-45088849
The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. This false color image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of Ares Vallis.
6145-45292469
The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Today's false color image shows two craters, one inside the other. These unnamed craters are located in Arabia Terra. Dunes are visible on the floor of the inner crater. Orbit Number 70157 Latitude 6.47569 Longitude 346.696 Instrument VIS Captured 2017-10-07 19 45
4389-1127
Meridiani Planum Seen by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
6145-45262284
This enhanced color image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) shows eroded bedrock on the floor of a large ancient crater.
6145-44514253
Layered Outcrops of Far West Candor Chasma
6145-45134461
The THEMIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of Gorgonum Chaos.
6145-45263564
This image was acquired on May 15, 2018 by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. This observation shows relatively bright mounds scattered throughout darker and diverse surfaces in Chryse Planitia. These mounds are hundreds of meters in size. The largest of the mounds shows a central pit, similar to the collapsed craters found at the summit of some volcanoes on Earth. The origins of these pitted mounds or cratered cones are uncertain. They could be the result of the interaction of lava and water, or perhaps formed from the eruption of hot mud originating from beneath the surface. These features are very interesting to scientists who study Mars, especially to those involved in the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter mission. If these mounds are indeed mud-related, they may be one of the long sought after sources for transient methane on Mars. More information is available at
6145-45084103
The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. This false color image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of of Eos Chasma.
6145-45122791
This mosaic combines four frames taken by the microscopic imager on Opportunity's robotic arm on Oct. 2, 2016 showing relatively bright outcropping of rock, dubbed 'Gasconade' on the western edge of Mars' Endeavour Crater.
6145-45126525
The THEMIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of Coprates Chasma.
6145-45298531
This false color image shows sand dunes on the floor of Sumgin Crater. The crater is located in Noachis Terra north of Argyre Planitia and is 85 km (53 miles) in diameter. Dark blue in this color combination typically means basaltic sands. The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Orbit Number 66517 Latitude -36.4993 Longitude 311.197 Instrument VIS Captured 2016-12-11 21 42
6145-45089087
The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. This false color image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows an unnamed crater in Elysium Planitia.
6145-45084144
This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, approximately 1.5 x 3 kilometers, shows a sample of eroded Martian terrain in Arabia Terra.
6145-45085640
The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. This false color image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows a portion of Kasei Vallis.
6145-44969873
This observation from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter covers an outcrop of possible cyclic bedding within a crater in Arabia Terra.
6145-45114765
The THEMIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of the floor of Antoniadi Crater.
6145-44722180
This stereo, 180-degree panorama shows the southward vista from the location where Spirit is spending its third Martian winter inside Mars' Gusev Crater on July 2, 2008. 3D glasses are necessary to view this image.
1746-19665921
Chalk. When tiny organisms living in shallow seas die and sink to the bottom, their skeletons join together to make chalk.
6145-45097456
The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple many ways to create a false color image. This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows the edge of the northwestern flank of Tyrrhenus Mons.
6145-45100554
This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft shows Solis Planum, a huge mound south of Valles Marineris. Like Earth's water table, Mars has an ice table.
6145-45258155
This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is reminiscent of the rugged and open terrain of a stark shore-line, perhaps of an island nation, such as the British Isles. A close-up in enhanced color produces a striking effect, giving the impression of a cloud-covered cliff edge with foamy waves crashing against it. The reality is that the surface of Mars is much dryer than our imaginations might want to suggest. This is only a tiny part of a much larger structure; an inverted crater -- a crater that has been infilled by material that is more resistant to erosion than the rocks around it -- surrounded by bluish basaltic dunes. The edge of these elevated light-toned deposits are degraded, irregular and cliff-forming. Dunes visible below the cliff, give the impression of an ocean surface, complete with foam capped waves crashing against the shore line, demonstrating the abstract similarity between the nature of a turbulent ocean and a Martian dune field. Meridiani Planum has an over
6145-45299266
The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Today's false color image shows part of Nectaris Fossae. The linear color variations at the bottom of the image are the fossae that dissect the topographic slope on the margin between Thaumasia Planum (top of image) and Noachis Terra (off the bottom of the image). The fossae may combine both fluvial and tectonic origins. Orbit Number 66854 Latitude -25.7521 Longitude 301.599 Instrument VIS Captured 2017-01-08 16 07
6145-45098981
This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a location on Mars associated with the best-selling novel and Hollywood movie, 'The Martian.' This area is in the Acidalia Planitia region.
4389-1559
Sediment Pattern Seen by Mars Global Surveyor
6145-45114740
The THEMIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of the plains of Terra Sirenum near Sirenum Fossae.
6145-45028929
Gale Crater, where the rover Curiosity of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission will land in August 2012, contains a mountain rising from the crater floor.
6145-45080064
At certain times in spring, fans take on a gray or blue appearance. This is the time in Inca City when this phenomenon happens, as seen in this image acquired by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
6145-44631670
Acidalia Planitia Channel Margin
6145-58972033
Existing images of this impact crater show a couple of dark lineations on the equator-facing wall that resemble small recurring slope lineae (RSL). However, unlike typical RSL, these lines persist for several Mars years with only minor changes.
6145-45006818
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows light-toned deposits along Coprates Chasma slopes.
6145-45092065
There are some interesting erosional signs in this observation from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which will make for a good comparison with other intracrater fans and fluvial sedimentary landforms.
6145-45092878
Ravines (or very large gullies) are actively forming on Mars during the coldest times of year, when carbon dioxide frost aids mass wasting as seen by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
6145-45297960
This false color image shows most of the floor of an unnamed crater in southern Arabia Terra. The wide variety of colors indicates a complex geologic history. Dark blue in this false color combination is typically basaltic sand. It appears that in addition to small sand dunes a scattering of sand also covers part of the crater floor. The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Orbit Number 64320 Latitude 5.45723 Longitude 356.407 Instrument VIS Captured 2016-06-13 22 19
6145-45112439
The THEMIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of Ausonia Montes.
6145-45092824
An elongated crater called 'Spirit of St. Louis,' with a rock spire in it, dominates this stereo view from the panoramic camera (Pancam) on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity.
6145-45128723
Viscous, lobate flow features are commonly found at the bases of slopes in the mid-latitudes of Mars, and are often associated with gullies, as seen by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
6145-45111871
The THEMIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of the plains in Arabia Terra.
6145-45112133
This image captured by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft has low-sun lighting that accentuates the many transverse ridges on this slope, extending from Euripus Mons (mountains).
6145-44565088
Fine Channel Networks
6145-45260194
This is a false color image of part of the Nili Patera dune field. High resolution imaging by other spacecraft has revealed that the dunes in this region are moving. Winds are blowing the dunes across a rough surface of regional volcanic lava flows. The paterae are calderas on the volcanic complex called Syrtis Major Planum. Dunes are found in both Nili and Meroe Paterae and in the region between the two calderas. The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. The Odyssey spacecraft has spent over 15 years in orbit around Mars, circling the planet more than 69000 times. It holds the record for longest working spacecraft at Mars. THEMIS, the IR/VIS camera system, has collected data for the entire mission and provides images covering all seasons and lighting conditions. Over the years
6145-45086994
The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. This false color image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of the interior of Ganges Chasma.
6145-45124243
The THEMIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows eroded craters in northern Meridiani Planum.
6145-45085423
The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. This false color image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows the southern flank of Ascraeus Mons.
6145-45124259
The THEMIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows several wind streaks in Syrtis Major Planum.
6145-54684339
. Curiosity's Climb Attempt Leaves Tracks. NASA's Curiosity Mars rover left these tracks after trying multiple times to crest a slippery slope. This mosaic, made up of seven images that were stitched together after being sent back to Earth, was captured by the rover's Mastcam on June 13, 2023, the 3,858th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. The color has been adjusted to match lighting conditions as the human eye would see them on Earth. Curiosity struggled to climb a 23-degree slope that had slippery sand and wheel-size boulders. These three factors - the incline, the sand, and the large boulders - combined to make this Curiosity's toughest climb yet.
6145-45260167
This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows one of millions of small (10s of meters in diameter) craters and their ejecta material that dot the Elysium Planitia region of Mars. The small craters were likely formed when high-speed blocks of rock were thrown out by a much larger impact (about 10-kilometers in diameter) and fell back to the ground. Some of these blocks may actually escape Mars, which is how we get samples in the form of meteorites that fall to Earth. Other ejected blocks have insufficient velocity, or the wrong trajectory, to escape the Red Planet. As such, when one of these high-speed blocks impacts the surface, it makes what is called a secondary crater. These secondaries can form dense chains or rays, which are radial to the crater that formed them.
6145-45110049
This image captured by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft shows several smaller craters that formed on the floor of Saheki Crater, an 85-kilometer diameter impact crater north of Hellas Basin.
4409-21503534
CUEVA DEL REGUERILLO. DETALLE DEL PANEL ANTERIOR. MADRID, ESPAÑA.
6145-45122130
The THEMIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of Ophir Chasma.
6145-45110048
This enhanced color image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft shows several craters somewhere in the southern mid-latitudes of Mars.
6145-44650835
This two-image mosaic shows part of the floor of Melas Chasma
6145-45104966
The THEMIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of the floor of Coprates Chasma.
6145-45069309
The north end of this long image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a lava surface in southern Elysium Planitia. Small cones are common on the extensive young flood lavas in this region.
6145-44968651
This observation captured by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a couple of landforms that may result from the loss of large amounts of ice from subsurface deposits: polygonal patterns of troughs and large scallop-shaped depressions.
6145-45083321
The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. This false color image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of Hebes Chasma.
6145-44875394
This oblique view of the mound in Gale crater shows several different rock types of interest to the Mars Science Laboratory mission. The Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, will use its full instrument suite to study these minerals and how they form
6145-45056814
This May 12, 2014, view from NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover shows the rock target 'Windjana' and its immediate surroundings after inspection of the site by the rover by drilling and other activities.
6145-45264067
This image was acquired on May 13, 2018 by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. A hotspot for exploration on Mars centers on areas that were once, or are currently, next to a significant source of heat such as volcanoes. Martian volcanoes have not been active for the last couple million years, but beneath the shifting sands and dust of the Red Planet we find old lava flows frozen in time. These ancient lava flows may have provided a source of heat, along with liquid water or subsurface ice, to generate an environment conducive for the development of ancient life. Geological evidence for hot water interacting with rock is what we mean by hydrothermal sites with these conditions are very difficult to identify from orbit. One closeup view shows sand dunes scouring what appears to be a highly-cratered, old lava flow in the Tempe Terra region, located in the Northern Hemisphere. The flat, dark areas are basaltic in composition, a rock commonly found around active volcanoes, and the lighter-t
6145-45124504
The western Utopia Planitia in the Northern mid-latitudes of Mars is marked by a peculiar type of depression with scalloped edges and by a network of polygonal fractures as seen by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
1746-19663340
Possible Mud Volcanoes on Mars: Is this a mud volcano on Mars If so, could it be dredging up Martian microbes This strange possibility has been suggested recently and seems to fit several recent observations of Mars. First of all, hills like this seem to better resemble mud volcanoes on Earth than lava volcanoes and impact craters on Mars. Next, the pictured dome has an unusually textured surface consistent with fractured ice. Infrared images from space indicate that hills like this cool more quickly than surrounding rock, consistent with a dried mud composition. The hills also reflect colours consistent with a composition that formed in the presence of water. Finally, unusual plumes of gas containing methane have been found on Mars with unknown origin. These gas plumes could conceivably have been liberated by mud volcanoes, were the initially warm mud to contain methane-producing microbes drifting in a previously unobservable underground lake. A candidate mud volcano over 100 meters
6145-45110358
This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft the valley networks on Mars are terrains eroded by flowing water billions of years ago. Where bedrock is well exposed, a variety of colors due to altered minerals and polygonal patterns.
6145-44835577
This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbite is centered on a small cone on the side of one of Mars' giant shield volcanoes. The cone shows some layers of hard rock but most of it is made of relatively soft material.
6145-45133379
The THEMIS camera contains 5 filters. Data from different filters can be combined to create a false color image. This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows a sand sheet with surface dune forms on an unnamed crater in Noachis Terrra.
6145-44493828
Much of Mars is covered by sand and dust but in some places stacks of sedimentary layers are visible. In this image, exquisite layering is revealed emerging from the sand in southern Holden Crater. Sequences like these offer a window into Mars' complicated geologic history. Holden Crater was once a candidate landing area for the Mars Science Laboratory, and is still an intriguing choice today.
6145-45053070
In this Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter view of the Curiosity rover mission's waypoint called 'the Kimberley,' the red dot indicates the location of a sandstone target, 'Windjana,' selected for close-up inspection.
6145-44911288
This stereo image from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity shows a rock outcrop called 'Hottah,' cited as evidence for vigorous flow of water in a long-ago Martian stream. You need 3D glasses to view this image.
1746-19671098
This image covers the northern edge of the largest volcano in the solar system, Olympus Mons on Mars. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
6145-45095922
This series of images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter successively zooms into 'spider' features, or channels carved in the surface in radial patterns, in the south polar region of Mars.
6145-44877243
This image comes from observations of Horowitz crater by the HiRISE camera onboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The features that extend down the slope during warm seasons are called recurring slope lineae.
6145-44529163
The interplay of volcanism, stream erosion and landslides is evident in this Shuttle Radar Topography Mission view of the eastern flank of the Andes Mountains, southeast of San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina.
6145-44617110
Dirty Rotten Rocks
6145-45065419
Eridania Basin, located at the head of Ma'adim Vallis, has mounting geomorphic and spectral evidence that it may have been the site of an ancient inland sea. This image is from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
6145-45258667
Haulani Crater (21 miles, 34 kilometers in diameter) is one of the youngest craters on Ceres, as evidenced by its sharp rims and bright, bluish material in enhanced color composite images from the framing camera on NASA's Dawn spacecraft. Haulani is also a good example of a polygonal crater. This high-resolution topography map of the crater's floor and northern rim displays a prime example of pitted terrains. Those features were likely formed through the rapid vaporization of subsurface water upon impact, and suggest that there is abundant water in Ceres' crust. Pitted terrains have also been found on Mars and Vesta. This topographic map was produced from the combination of images acquired under multiple illumination angles while the Dawn spacecraft was in its low-altitude mapping orbit, at a distance of about 240 miles (385 kilometers) above the surface. The colors represent elevations ranging from 1.3 miles (2.1 kilometers) below the surface to 0.75 miles (1.2 kilometers) above the s
6145-45111882
The THEMIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of the plains of Terra Sirenum.
6145-45126523
This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reveals an impact crater, nine kilometers in diameter, with a central peak. Impact craters of various sizes and ages can be found across the Martian surface.
6145-44982495
This image captured by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is of an ancient, approximately 3 billion year-old landslide shows two distinct surface albedos, which are proportions of reflected light.
6145-44649257
A Peek into 'Alamogordo Creek'
6145-44483904
Martian surface frost, made up largely of carbon dioxide, appears blueish-white in these images from the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) camera aboard NASA's 2001 Odyssey orbiter. THEMIS takes images in both visible light perceptible to the human eye and heat-sensitive infrared.
6145-45134218
The THEMIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of the floor of Matara Crater.
6145-45121004
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured this image of Nili Fossae, layered bedrock as horizontal striations in the light toned sediments in the floor of a canyon near Syrtis Major.
6145-44808417
This image taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter covers part of a candidate landing site that appears to be a shallow depression with a deposit perhaps consisting of chlorides, like table salt.