MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR
Image of the Week
November 13, 2006
The following new image taken by the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) on
the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft is now available:
o Mars at LS 137 Degrees (Released 07 November 2006)
http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2006/11/13
Image Caption:
These images capture what Mars typically looks like in mid-afternoon
at Ls 137 degrees. In other words, with the exception of occasional
differences in weather and polar frost patterns, this is what the
red planet looks like this month (November 2006).
Six views are shown, including the two polar regions. These are
composites of 24-26 Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera
(MOC) daily global mapping images acquired at red and blue
wavelengths. The ‘hole’ over the south pole is an area where no
images were obtained, because this polar region is enveloped in
wintertime darkness.
Presently, it is summer in the northern hemisphere and winter in
the southern hemisphere. Ls, solar longitude, is a measure of the
time of year on Mars. Mars travels 360 degrees around the Sun in 1 Mars
year. The year begins at Ls 0 degrees, the start of northern spring and
southern autumn. Northern summer/southern winter begins at Ls 90
degrees,
northern autumn/southern spring start at Ls 180 degrees, and northern
winter/southern summer begin at Ls 270 degrees.
Ls 137 degrees occurs in the middle of this month (November 2006). The
pictures show how Mars appeared to the MOC wide angle cameras at
a previous Ls 137 degrees in March 2001. The six views are centered on
the Tharsis region (upper left), Acidalia and Mare Eyrthraeum
(upper right), Syrtis Major and Hellas (middle left), Elysium and
Mare Cimmeria (middle right), the north pole (lower left), and
the south pole (lower right).
All of the Mars Global Surveyor images are archived here: