Mars upside down

2017-12-16 19:46

Mars upside down
How to understand the space where the top and down?

Sign up for news “UkrMedia” in Facebook, Twitter or Google+

If we talk about planets we usually see from above the North pole, and the bottom is South. But this unique image of the probe of the ESA “Mars Express”, the Red planet is shown from the perspective of the North pole, over which was stretched the equator.

The picture was taken on June 19 for stereocamera calibration, when the “Mars Express” was flying from North to South. Nine camera channels is one of Nizhnedneprovsky, four color and four stereo — pans over the surface to record a larger area with the same lighting conditions. The camera was shifted to the horizon.

The result of the shooting was a rare wide angle image of the planet with lightening horizon near the equator in the upper part of the image and shaded the North pole at the bottom.

In early spring, when he was granted the Northern polar cap was composed of water ice and dust. Carbon dioxide, present in winter in solid form have evaporated. Similarly evaporate and water ice, releasing large amounts of water into the atmosphere, which circulates in the South due to the atmospheric currents. With the return of the cold seasons all over again freezes.

Panorama view to the South shows the Martian volcanoes in the Tharsis region. The area of this region is more than the whole of Europe, and the average altitude is 5 km and the Volcanoes rise to the 10-22 km.

The largest volcanic giant “Mount Olympus” behind the scenes, giving way to a volcano “Mount of Alba” with a diameter of more than 1000 km, which is located in the center of the upper half of the image.

Around this mountain, on the edge of the Tharsis can see a number of parallel lines, the formation of which is due to the tectonic stresses. As the region accumulated magma in the first billions years of the planet’s history, the crust was stretched. Later, when popularnost the magma chamber was emptied, subsidence of the earth’s crust also caused the cracks.

On the horizon is 15 km long volcano “Mount Scricca”, covered with misty clouds. To his left you can see the “pile of Uranium”, “Ceranski the Dome” and “Dome of Tharsis”.

Despite the average, according to Martian standards, the size (60 to 150 km in diameter and 5-8 km height), they compete with many terrestrial volcanoes. Mauna Kea is the highest volcano on Earth rises to 10 km, when measured from its oceanic base to the top, and only at 4200 m above sea level.