Mars Photo of the Day - Jan 4 2012

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Today's Image of Mars shows a small floral-shaped volcano in Cerberus Fossae.You can see the flows because they are darker than the surrounding terrain and radiate away from the opening, forming a flower shape. The volcano lies at the flank of a larger one of the Cerberus Tholi.

To the right you can see this volcanoes only vent. You will also notice that there are a few small crater superimposed over the lava flows, which indicates that this feature is "not entirely young." (HiRISE)

Cerberus Fossae is a series of roughly parallel fissures created by faults which pulled the Martian crust apart in the Cerberus region, which is located at around 9°N, 197°W. These faults are the result of the formation of the Elysium Volcanic Field. They pass through preexisting features, like hills, which indicates that the faults are relatively recent.

Clicking on this image will take you to a captioned sub-image of this from HiRISE.

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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 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 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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Mars Photo of the Day - Oct 25 2011

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Today's Image of Mars shows a chain of pits along the northwestern flank of the volcano, Alba Patera. Those pits form a fracture at the volcano's southern most point. The fracture is part of a larger fracture system that is radial to the volcano and suggests that it is somehow related to the volcano's formation.

The fracture system could have formed when subsurface magma ceased flowing and the overlying ground collapsed. Another possibility is that water-ice could have formed along the fractures and the subsequent sublimation of the ice resulted in a partial collapse.

This image links to the original captioned image by HiRISE.

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Mars Photo of the Day - Sept 26 2011

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Today's Mars Photo is of Hecates Tholus Volcano as taken by the European Space Agency's (ESA) Mars Express in 2004. See the photo in 3D.

This image below will take you to the larger hi-resolution image from the ESA.

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