Tag Archives: FU Berlin

Mars Express: Dark meets light in Terra Cimmeria

ESA’s Mars Express has captured the cosmic contrast of Terra Cimmeria, a region in the southern highlands of Mars marked by impact craters, water-carved valleys, and sand and dust in numerous chocolate and caramel hues. Mars is often referred to … Continue reading

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Mars Express: Dust storms swirl at martian north pole

ESA’s Mars Express has been keeping an eye on local and regional dust storms brewing at the north pole of the Red Planet over the last month, watching as they disperse towards the equator. Local and regional storms lasting for … Continue reading

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HRSC: A chaos found only on Mars

The cracked, uneven, jumbled landscape seen in this image from ESA’s Mars Express forms an intriguing type of terrain that cannot be found on Earth: chaotic terrain. The feature visible here, Aurorae Chaos, is located in the ancient and equatorial … Continue reading

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HRSC: From canals to craters

Mars was once believed to be criss-crossed by a system of irrigation canals – dark troughs that sliced across the planet’s surface, excavated by an intelligent society of thirsty martians. The astronomer who promoted this idea lends his name to … Continue reading

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Mars Express: Dark dust devil tracks

The winds of Mars are responsible for myriad features across the planet’s surface – including the dark dunes and wispy, filament-like streaks seen in this image from ESA’s Mars Express. The intriguing features shown here are ‘dust devil’ tracks: as … Continue reading

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Mars Express: Signs of ancient flowing water

These images from ESA’s Mars Express satellite show a branching, desiccated system of trenches and valleys, signs of ancient water flow that hint at a warmer, wetter past for the Red Planet. We see Mars as a cold, dry world, … Continue reading

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Mars Express: 15 years imaging the Red Planet

On 25 December 2003, ESA’s Mars Express entered orbit around the Red Planet. The spacecraft began returning the first images from orbit using its High Resolution Stereo Camera just a couple of weeks later, and over the course of its … Continue reading

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Mars Express: Korolev Crater

This image shows what appears to be a large patch of fresh, untrodden snow – a dream for any lover of the holiday season. However, it’s a little too distant for a last-minute winter getaway: this feature, known as Korolev … Continue reading

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Mars Express: Shaping the surface with water, wind, and ice

ESA’s Mars Express has imaged an intriguing part of the Red Planet’s surface: a rocky, fragmented, furrowed escarpment lying at the boundary of the northern and southern hemisphere. This region is an impressive example of past activity on the planet … Continue reading

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Mars Express: Greeley Crater in Noachis Terra

The surface of Mars may appear to be perpetually still, but its many features are ever-changing – as represented in this Mars Express view of the severely eroded Greeley impact crater. Greeley crater, named for the renowned planetary scientist Ronald … Continue reading

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