Mars Photo of the Day - May 15 2012

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Today's Image of Mars shows the Tharsis Trio (Arsia, Pavonis, and Ascraeus Mons) and Olympus Mons off to the Northwest. This image is very similar to one previously showcased by Mars Travel from the European Space Agency's Mars Express.

The Tharsis Trio are aligned in almost a perfect line pointing Northeast. Scientists speculate that all these volcanoes formed from a larger fracture/vent system that caused the three initial eruptions that created the Tharsis Trio. In other images you can see the vents pointing Northeast from Arsia Mons toward Pavonis and Ascraeus Mons, which lend credence to this theory. 

As far as I can tell this image was taken by Mars Odyssey Orbiter's THEMIS (please correct me if I'm wrong) Click on this image to see the original high resolution image.

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Mars Photo of the Day - May 1 2012

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Today's Image of Mars shows how the Tharsis Trio (Arsia, Pavonis, and Ascraeus Mons) pale in comparison to Olympus Mons, the largest known volcano in the solar system. Of the Tharsis trio, Arsia Mons is the oldest and Ascraeus Mons is the youngest.

The Tharsis Quadrangle is full of volcanoes and is thought to have been volcanically active as recently as 100-250 million years ago, which is relatively recent in geological terms. It is thought that at one time the abundance of volcanoes in this region had an enormous impact on the climate of Mars.

Scientists have determined that the amount of carbon dioxide and water vapor released into the air by all the discovered Tharsis volcanoes would have been enough to create an atmosphere thicker than that currently on Earth. If this is the case the environment on Mars could have been completely different than what we see in images today.

Click on this image to see all images of Tharsis volcanoes showcased by Mars Travel. [See the Mars Express article with this image]

Credit: ESA/Mars Express

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Mars Photo of the Day - Dec 20 2011

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Today's Image of Mars is a closeup of a pit on the Eastern flank of Pavonis Mons, a large volcano located in the Tharsis region of Mars. The pit is 180m at its widest diameter.

Even though the Western half of the pit is shrouded in shadow, HiRISE was able to peer into the shadows and determine what lies within. The boulders visible within the pit range from less than 1m to 5m in diameter. The HiRISE team reports that the boulders are covered in sediments.

Pits like the one below are called skylights and often form when the roof of an inactive lava tube collapses.

Clicking on this image will take you to the original captioned image from HiRISE.

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Mars Photo of the Day - Dec 3 2011

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Today's Image of Mars is actually a map of the Tharsis Quadrangle, which covers the area from 90° to 135° west longitude and 0° to 30° north latitude on Mars. Tharsis Quadrangle is home to numerous large volcanoes, including the largest in our solar system, Olympus Mons.

It is thought that at one time the volcanoes in Tharsis Quadrangle had a large impact on the Martian climate. A large amount of carbon dioxide and water vapor was released into the air from the volcanoes in the Tharsis Quadrangle. Estimates show the amount of gas emitted by the volcanoes in the Tharsis Quadrangle would have been enough to produce an atmosphere thicker than Earth's. Additionally, the water vapor released from these volcanoes would have been enough to cover all of Mars in 120 meters of water. The volcanoes in Tharsis Quadrangle lead many experts to believe that Mars once had an atmosphere thicker than Earth's and that it was once a warm and wet planet.

This Tharsis Quadrangle map is one of 30 quadrangle maps used by United States Geological Survey (USGS) Astrogeology Research Program to catalogue Mars. Clicking on this image will take you to a list of maps produced by the USGS for Mars. From there you can open many of the maps of Mars produced by the USGS.

USGS Astrogeology Research Program

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Mars Photo of the Day - Dec 2 2011

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Today's Image of Mars shows Ceraunius Tholus (lower) and Uranius Tholus (upper), two Tharsis volcanoes on Mars. The fact that these volcanoes have craters on them tells us that the volcanoes are very old and inactive today. If they were active then lava flows would have covered any impact craters.

if you look at the bottom right of the larger Ceranius Tholus you will see that it is much lighter than the surrounding terrain. What you see are the deposits left from the global dust storm in 2001.

To give you some idea of scale, the large crater you see in the center of Ceraunius Tholus is approximately 25km in diameter. Ceraunius Tholus rises about as high above the Martian surface as Mt. Everest.

This image was taken by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) in 2001. Clicking on it will take you to the original image fact page from NASA.

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Mars Photo of the Day - Nov 22 2011

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Today's Image of Mars is of a crater filled in by lava flows from the volcano Arsia Mons, one of the northern most Tharsis volcanoes. 

What's amazing about this crater is the fact that the rim remains almost entirely intact.  Oftentimes all evidence of an impact will be erased by a lava flow, but not in this case. The lava flows surrounded this crater and eventually broke through the crater rim, filling it to the same level as the surrounding terrain, but the rim is still distinct.

Clicking this image will take you to the original captioned image from Mars Odyssey Orbiter's THEMIS.

Source: THEMIS

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Mars Photo of the Day - Nov 14 2011

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Today's Image of Mars is of the volcano Tharsis Tholis, as taken by Mars Express Orbiter's High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC). The volcano rises 8km above the surrounding terrain and is one of the many Tharsis Volcanoes. It stretches 155 x 125km at its base and its caldera (opening) is 32 x 34km. 

Tharsis Tholis is unique among Martian volcanoes due to the degree by which it has been modified by faulting. Large faults cut across the entire volcano. dividing it into several major sections. [View images of Tharsis Tholis as taken by other cameras aboard Mars Express]

Click on the image below to see the original high resolution image from Mars Express.

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Mars Photo of the Day - Nov 9 2011

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Today's Image of Mars is from Kasei Valles, a 1780 km (1100 mi) long set of flood carved channels on Mars. This image focuses on a much narrower channel that was carved into Kasei Valles.

Many channels carved by water on Mars are covered by a more recent layer of lava. In many cases the fissures that released the water, later release the lava that covers the channels, but in the case of Kasei Valles, the lava came from a different location than the water. 

Kasei Valles was carved by floods from Echus Chasma, but the lava came from a source between the Tharsis Volcanoes and only covers the lowlands of the valleys. 

This image links to the original captioned image by HiRISE.

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Mars Photo of the Day - Nov 5 2011

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Today's Image of Mars is of Arsia Mons, the southernmost of the Tharsis volcanoes. This volcano is larger than any on Earth, measuring nearly 12 miles high and over 270 miles wide. 

The fractures in the top right and bottom left of the image are aligned with Pavonis Mons and Ascreaus Mons to the Northeast. This may represent a large fracture or vent system that was responsible for the eruptions which created the volcanoes.  

This image was taken by the Thermal Emissions Imaging System (THEMIS) aboard Mars Odyssey Orbiter. The image was released to the public on June 13 2005. Click the image to see the original captioned image from THEMIS.

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