Mars and Planetary Imagery

Black and white images from Mars Odyssey showing various Martian terrains, emphasizing geological features and polar caps.

Detail of an Impact Crater, Acidalia Planitia
Detail of an Impact Crater, Acidalia Planitia
236 assets in this story
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The channel feature in this image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft is a huge gully that empties into Echus Chasma.
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Wind-Driven Traveler on Mars (Spirit Sol 486)
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Siton Undae is a large dune field located in the northern plains near Escorial Crater. Siton Undae is west of the crater and is one of three dune fields near the crater. The nearby north polar cap is dissected by Chasma Boreale, which exposes an ice free surface. This image was collected during the middle of northern hemisphere summer. There is no frost left on the dunes and they appear dark. These dunes are likely formed of basaltic sand. The Odyssey spacecraft has spent over 15 years in orbit around Mars, circling the planet more than 69000 times. It holds the record for longest working spacecraft at Mars. THEMIS, the IR/VIS camera system, has collected data for the entire mission and provides images covering all seasons and lighting conditions. Over the years many features of interest have received repeated imaging, building up a suite of images covering the entire feature. From the deepest chasma to the tallest volcano, individual dunes inside craters and dune fields that encircle
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Opportunity's Surroundings on Sol 1687 (Vertical)
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Mini Moon
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Wrinkle ridges are a very common landform on Mars, Mercury, Venus, and the Moon. These ridges are linear to arcuate asymmetric topographic highs commonly found on smooth plains.
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This close-up view shows lots of atmospheric detail, including a dark storm and wisps of clouds. The dark spot is noticeably lighter around its perimeter than in its interior. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Sept. 10, 2004, at a distance of 8.8 million kilometers (5.5 million miles) from Saturn, through a filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 750 nanometers. The image scale is 52 kilometers (32 miles) per pixel. The image has been contrast enhanced to improve visibility of features in the atmosphere. http //photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06493
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'Victoria Crater' from 'Duck Bay' (Vertical Projection)
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This image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows the edge of the clouds in a weather front in the northern latitudes.
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P-34668 Range 25 million km. ( 16 million miles ) Smallest Resolvable Feature 45 km or 28 miles This Voyager 2 image of Neptune, shot with a narrow angle camera, shows the discovery of shadows in Neptune's atmosphere. The shadows cast onto deep cloud banks by smaller elevated clouds. Located at about 68 degrees south latitude, they are the first cloud shadows ever seen by Voyager on any planet. The dark regions adjacent to the small bright clouds are believed to be shadows, because they are on the side of the cloud that is opposite to the incoming sunlight and because they lengthen in places where the sun lies closer to the horizon. Estimates of the height of these discrete clouds above the underlying cloud bank can be obtained by careful analysis of this data.
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Opportunity's View After Long Drive on Sol 1770
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Landslide deposits seen on the steep interior slopes of Marius crater.
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This VIS image of Olympia Undae was collected during north polar summer. The dunes are now completely frost free and are dark in color due to being made of basaltic sand. The surface between the dunes, where visible, is a bright tone. In some regions of dense dunes, the bright material may be a deposit on the dunes rather than the underlying surface. The presence of gypsum has been suggested for Olympia Undae, gypsum is a lighter tone than basalt in this filter of the THEMIS VIS camera. Olympia Undae is a vast dune field in the north polar region of Mars. It consists of a broad sand sea or erg that partly rings the north polar cap from about 120° to 240°E longitude and 78° to 83°N latitude. The dune field covers an area of approximately 470,000 km2 (bigger than California, smaller than Texas). Olympia Undae is the largest continuous dune field on Mars. Olympia Undae is not the only dune field near the north polar cap, several other smaller fields exist in the same latitude, but in othe
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NASA's Mars Exploration Rover capturde this 360-degree view near the ridgeline of Endeavour Crater's western rim. The center is southeastward. Rocks on the slope to the right of center are in an outcrop area targeted for the rover to study.
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The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Today's false color image shows Gale Crater. Gale Crater is the home of the Curiosity Rover. The THEMIS VIS camera is capable of capturing color images of the Martian surface using five different color filters. In this mode of operation, the spatial resolution and coverage of the image must be reduced to accommodate the additional data volume produced from using multiple filters. To make a color image, three of the five filter images (each in grayscale) are selected. Each is contrast enhanced and then converted to a red, green, or blue intensity image. These three images are then combined to produce a full color, single image. Because the THEMIS color filters don't span the full range of colors seen by the human eye, a color THEMIS image
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South Polar Ice. Today's VIS image shows part of the south polar cap. This image was taken near the end of southern summer. The cap was created over millions of years with deposition of ice and dust during different seasons, creating layers. The ice surface contains several different textures which can be seen in this image. The south polar cap is called Australe Planum. Orbit Number 93105 Latitude -86.8047 Longitude 32.9808 Instrument VIS Captured 2022-12-10 13 13 https //photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25814
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Arabian Crater
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Today's VIS image shows part of the central region of Hebes Chasma. The floor of this closed basin filled with landslide deposits and other layered materials. The eastern margin of Hebes Mensa is just visible on the left center side of the image. Wind and water processes have eroded the floor materials. Orbit Number 87427 Latitude -1.35658 Longitude 284.373 Instrument VIS Captured 2021-08-30 01 02
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NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity captured a sweeping stereo image of 'Burns Cliff' after driving right to the base of this southeastern portion of the inner wall of 'Endurance Crater' in November 2004. 3D glasses are necessary to view this image.
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This July 29, 2014, panorama combines several images from the navigation camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity to show the rover's surroundings after surpassing 25 miles (40.23 kilometers) of total driving on Mars.
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Glass diapositive from 1916 by Arthur von Hübl showing an accommodation building captured with a long-distance and scissor removal camera.
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Skirting Xanadu's Southern Boundary
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Southern Dunes. Not all dune fields on Mars are located in deep craters. This dune field in southern Cimmeria Terra is located in the very shallow remnants of an old crater. The area is still at a lower elevation than it's surroundings and can trap sand moving in the region. Orbit Number 93153 Latitude -64.8057 Longitude 153.885 Instrument VIS Captured 2022-12-14 11 57 https //photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25844
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Spirit's View on Sol 399 (Vertical)
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Jupiter Night and Day
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MOC Imaging Resumes
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Aerial view of a part of the area affected during the flood disaster of 1953. Note: The description of this photo is not yet complete and will be supplemented on the basis of the data available at a later stage. However, of many photos of the flood disaster 1953, the location is unknown.
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Aerial view of a part of the area affected during the flood disaster of 1953. Note: The description of this photo is not yet complete and will be supplemented on the basis of the data available at a later stage. However, of many photos of the flood disaster 1953, the location is unknown.
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MGS MOC Extended Mission View of North Polar Layers
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This series of images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows changes on the surface of Saturn's moon Titan, as the transition to northern spring brings methane rains to the moon's equatorial latitudes.
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The dark sand dunes in this image are located on the South Polar cap near Reynolds Crater.
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Dust Devils in Gusev Crater, Sol 463
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Photomicrograph of the surface of a Brachiopod, 1904 - 1906, by James McDonald.
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This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft is a sand sheet with surface dune forms filling part of the floor of this unnamed crater. Many craters in the northern plains of Vastitas Borealis contain sand sheets.
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Toward the right side of this enhanced-color scene is a broad notch in the crest of the western rim of Endeavour Crater. Wheel tracks in that area were left by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity as it observed Perseverance Valley from above in the spring of 2017. The valley is a major destination for the rover's extended mission. It descends out of sight on the inner slope of the rim, extending down and eastward from that notch. Opportunity's panoramic camera (Pancam) took the component images for this view from a position outside the crater during the span of June 7 to June 19, 2017, sols 4753 to 4765 of the rover's work on Mars. This scene includes features that might have been ancient channels from water, ice or wind moving toward the notch in the rim, which might have been a spillway. Perseverance Valley, just on the other side, was likely carved by action of some fluid, such as water, water-lubricated debris, or wind. The mission is investigating to learn more about that pr
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Opportunity's Surroundings After Sol 1820 Drive
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This radar image shows the ocean surface in a portion of the Western Pacific Ocean.
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Martian Surface Beneath Phoenix
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Lava Fountains on Io
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This is a full resolution mosaic from NASA's Magellan spacecraft shows a series of complex lava flows which emerge from the northern flank of Sif Mons, a large volcano just to the south.
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This mosaic shows the features of Jupiter's main visible cloud deck and the hazy cloud layer above it as seen by NASA's Galileo spacecraft on April 3, 1997.
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Complex Floor Deposits Within Western Ganges Chasma, Valles Marineris - High Resolution Image
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IDL TIFF file
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Gasteropods, 1904 - 1906, by James McDonald.
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Sirenum Fossae. Today's VIS image shows a portion of Sirenum Fossae. The linear features are tectonic graben. Graben are formed by extension of the crust and faulting. When large amounts of pressure or tension are applied to rocks on timescales that are fast enough that the rock cannot respond by deforming, the rock breaks along faults. In the case of a graben, two parallel faults are formed by extension of the crust and the rock in between the faults drops downward into the space created by the extension. Numerous sets of graben are visible in this THEMIS image, trending from north-northeast to south-southwest. Because the faults defining the graben are formed perpendicular to the direction of the applied stress, we know that extensional forces were pulling the crust apart in the west-northwest/east-southeast direction. The Sirenum Fossae graben are 2735km (1700 miles) long and stretch from eastern Terra Sirenum into western Daedalia Planum. Orbit Number 93139 Latitude -32.2816 Longit
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This MOC image shows adjacent impact craters located north-northwest of the Acheron Fossae region of Mars. The two craters are of similar size and formed by meteor impacts. However, one is much more filled than the other, indicating that it is older
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The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of Candor Chasma.
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Saturn's South Pole
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AS08-13-2327 (21-27 Dec. 1968) --- A brightly-rayed crater on the farside of the moon near the sub solar point, where the sun was directly overhead, as seen from the Apollo 8 spacecraft. (HOLD PICTURE WITH THE CRATER SLIGHTLY TO THE UPPER RIGHT). Brightly-rayed craters are numerous on the lunar front side; however, they have not been previously observed in such detail on the farside.
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Wind-Sculpted Vicinity After Opportunity's Sol 1797 Drive
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This is a full resolution radar mosaic of the Lavinia region of Venus as seen by NASA's Magellan spacecraft. This area shows a diverse set of geologic features.
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Siton Undae is a large dune field located in the northern plains near Escorial Crater. Siton Undae is west of the crater and is one of three dune fields near the crater. The nearby north polar cap is dissected by Chasma Boreale, which exposes an ice free surface. This image shows a cross section of the dune field. Collected in the early spring season the dunes still retain a frost cover. The Odyssey spacecraft has spent over 15 years in orbit around Mars, circling the planet more than 69000 times. It holds the record for longest working spacecraft at Mars. THEMIS, the IR/VIS camera system, has collected data for the entire mission and provides images covering all seasons and lighting conditions. Over the years many features of interest have received repeated imaging, building up a suite of images covering the entire feature. From the deepest chasma to the tallest volcano, individual dunes inside craters and dune fields that encircle the north pole, channels carved by water and lava, an
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Today's VIS image shows part of the south polar cap. This image was taken at the start of southern summer, and the surface frost has sublimated away. The cap was created over millions of years with deposition of ice and dust during different seasons, creating layers. The ice surface contains several different textures which can be seen in this image. The south polar cap is called Australe Planum. Orbit Number 89638 Latitude -86.8307 Longitude 296.694 Instrument VIS Captured 2022-02-28 01 53
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This is a version of one of the first images taken by a front Hazard-Avoidance camera on NASA's Curiosity rover. It was taken through a fisheye wide-angle lens but has been linearized so that the horizon looks flat rather than curved.
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Seepage and Ponding within a Southern Hemisphere Crater
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Aerial view of a part of the area affected during the flood disaster of 1953. Note: The description of this photo is not yet complete and will be supplemented on the basis of the data available at a later stage. However, of many photos of the flood disaster 1953, the location is unknown.
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Enceladus Venting
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Titan Crater in Three Views
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Three large meteorite impact craters are seen in this image obtained by NASA's Magellan spacecraft of the Lavinia region of Venus.
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Track-and-Trench 2
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Kunowsky Crater
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The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of the northern cliff face of Ganges Chasma.
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Exposure of Polar Layered Deposits
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These images taken by NASA's Voyager 2 show changes in the clouds around Neptune's Great Dark Spot (GDS) over a four and one-half-day period. From top to bottom the images show successive rotations of the planet an interval of about 18 hours.
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Dust Fans on the Seasonal Carbon Dioxide Polar Cap
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Thule stereo image on propeller.Thule (depicted - name)
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Opportunity View During Exploration in 'Duck Bay,' Sols 1506-1510 (Stereo)
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The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite captured this view of extensive sea-ice fracturing off the northern coast of Alaska. The event began in late-January and spread west toward Banks Island throughout February and March 2013. Visualizations of the Arctic often give the impression that the ice cap is a continuous sheet of stationary, floating ice. In fact, it is a collection of smaller pieces that constantly shift, crack, and grind against one another as they are jostled by winds and ocean currents. Especially during the summerbut even during the height of wintercracksor leadsopen up between pieces of ice. That was what was happening on the left side of the animation (seen here a href= http //bit.ly/10kE7sh rel= nofollow bit.ly/10kE7sh /a ) in late January. A high-pressure weather system was parked over the region, producing warmer temperatures and winds that flowed in a southwesterly direction. That fueled the Beaufort Gyre, a wind-driven
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Heat Shield Impact Site
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Central Gusev in Infrared
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This anaglyph, acquired by NASA's Phoenix Lander's Surface Stereo Imager on June 19, 2008, shows a view of the Martian surface near the lander. The trench shown here is informally called 'Snow White 1.' 3D glasses are necessary.
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Portrait of a Woman Robert Feke (American, ca.1707-ca.1752). Portrait of a Woman, 1748. Oil on canvas, 49 3/8 x 39 9/16 in. (125.4 x 100.5 cm). The Conservator's Eye An X radiograph of this portrait reveals a compositional change invisible to the naked eye: the elimination of an elaborate blue drape that initially hung from the sitters right shoulder and wrapped around her waist. This hidden feature shows up in the radiograph because Robert Feke used lead white pigment to paint the highlights. Lead is a dense material that absorbs X-rays, causing the highlights to appear white in the radiograph, even where they have been covered with additional paint. The blue color of the draping is visible within the cracks under strong magnification. Feke made this change late in the painting process, but it is unknown if the change was made at the sitters request. American Art 1748
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NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit used its navigation camera to take the images combined into this 360-degree view of the rover's surroundings on Spirit's 409th martian day, or sol (Feb. 26, 2005). Spirit had driven 2 meters (7 feet) on this sol to get in position on Cumberland Ridge for looking into Tennessee Valley to the east. This location is catalogued as Spirit's Site 108. Rover-wheel tracks from climbing the ridge are visible on the right. The summit of Husband Hill is at the center, to the south. This view is presented in a vertical projection with geometric and brightness seam correction. http //photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA07410
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. Tempe Fossae. Today's VIS image is shows a small portion of Tempe Fossae. The linear features are tectonic graben. Graben are formed by extension of the crust and faulting. When large amounts of pressure or tension are applied to rocks on timescales that are fast enough that the rock cannot respond by deforming, the rock breaks along faults. In the case of a graben, two parallel faults are formed by extension of the crust and the rock in between the faults drops downward into the space created by the extension. Numerous sets of graben are visible in this THEMIS image, trending from north-northeast to south-southwest. Because the faults defining the graben are formed perpendicular to the direction of the applied stress, we know that extensional forces were pulling the crust apart in the west-northwest/east-southeast direction. The complete fossae system is almost 2000 km (1242 miles) long. Orbit Number 94159 Latitude 38.314 Longitude 279.856 Instrument VIS Captured 2023-03-07 09 20
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Aerial view of a part of the area affected during the flood disaster of 1953. Note: The description of this photo is not yet complete and will be supplemented on the basis of the data available at a later stage. However, of many photos of the flood disaster 1953, the location is unknown.
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. Cerberus Fossae. Today's VIS image shows a section of Cerberus Fossae. Cerberus Fossae are located in Elysium Planitia, southeast of the Elysium Mons volcanic complex. The linear features in the image are tectonic graben. Graben are formed by extension of the crust and faulting. When large amounts of pressure or tension are applied to rocks on timescales that are fast enough that the rock cannot respond by deforming, the rock breaks along faults. In the case of a graben, two parallel faults are formed by extension of the crust and the rock in between the faults drops downward into the space created by the extension. Several sets of graben are visible in this THEMIS image, trending from west-northwest to east-southeast. Because the faults defining the graben are formed perpendicular to the direction of the applied stress, we know that extensional forces were pulling the crust apart in the north-northeast/south-southwest direction. The Cerberus Fossae graben are sources of both channel
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Powering Saturn's Jets
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MGS Contingency Science Passes
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This is the Opportunity panoramic camera's 'Erebus Rim' panorama, acquired on sols 652 to 663 (Nov. 23 to Dec. 5, 2005 ), as NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity was exploring sand dunes and outcrop rocks in Meridiani Planum.
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The SeaWinds instrument on NASA's Quick Scatterometer (QuikScat) spacecraft captured these near-real-time backscatter images of melting on the Larsen C ice shelf in Antarctica's Weddell Sea between October 27 (left) and October 29 (right).
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Daedalia Dust Devil
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This image captured NASA's Mars Odyssey by of low altitude clouds perfectly illustrates how the surface topography of the polar cap controls the creation of visible clouds.
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Cydonia: Two Years Later
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Mimas in Transit
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Aerial view of a part of the area affected during the flood disaster of 1953. Note: The description of this photo is not yet complete and will be supplemented on the basis of the data available at a later stage. However, of many photos of the flood disaster 1953, the location is unknown.
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Martian North Polar Cap on September 12, 1998
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NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity arrived at the rim of Endeavour crater on Aug. 9, 2011, after a trek of more than 13 miles lasting nearly three years since departing the rover's previous major destination, Victoria crater, in August 2008.
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Over the Rover
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Dust Devils Seen Streaking Across Mars: PART II--They're the Work of the Devil!
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Lava Lake Formed On Glacier Ice -- This lake of Lava (Bottom) formed on Ice of a glacier on the side of erupting Akutan Peak in the Aleutian Islands. Note craters and smoking lava in this photo made by a Navy photographer flying almost overhead. December 01, 1947. (Photo by Associated Press Photo).
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Tombaugh Crater is in the center of this VIS image. Dark blue tones are basaltic sands of the floor of the crater. The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Orbit Number 60796 Latitude 3.67604 Longitude 161.758 Instrument VIS Captured 2015-08-28 16 43
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This anaglyph view of 'Ender,' due south of the lander, was produced by NASA's Mars Pathfinder's Imager camera. 3D glasses are necessary to identify surface detail.
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These images from NASA's Dawn spacecraft, located in Vesta's Caparronia quadrangle, in Vesta's northern hemisphere, demonstrate a special analytical technique, which results in shadowed areas of Vesta's surface becoming illuminated.
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This 360-degree stereo panorama shows the terrain surrounding NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit on Nov. 11, 2004. At that point, Spirit was climbing the 'West Spur' of the 'Columbia Hills.' 3D glasses are necessary to view this image.
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Spirit's View on Sol 100 (cylindrical)
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This map of a portion of the western rim of Endeavour Crater on Mars shows the area where NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity worked for 20 months.