Space Topics: 2001 Mars Odyssey
The Year in Pictures: 2005
Mars Odyssey's Thermal Maps of Lava Channels on Ascraeus Mons
redit: NASA / JPL / Arizona State University |
October. In orbit at Mars since October 2001, Mars
Odyssey takes pictures
of Mars both in daylight and at night in visible and infrared wavelengths. This
year, the THEMIS imaging team introduced
a new website featuring images that
combine daytime and nighttime images to show stunning and information-rich
views of the surface of Mars. These images combine the detail from visible
images of the Martian surface taken during the day with temperature maps of
the same areas taken at night in thermal infrared wavelengths.
Most of
the color variation due to temperature arises because dust cools quickly after
sunset, while rock cools more slowly. As a result, rockier areas show
up as warm spots, colored red in the example image above, while dust-covered
areas show up as cold spots, colored blue. This image shows lava channels
on the flank of Ascraeus Mons in the Tharsis region of Mars. The flat
surfaces of the volcano's lava flows are covered with dust, but the steeper-sloped
collapse pits and lava channels contain more visible rock. Such images
will help to guide the selection of landing sites for future missions.
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