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Martian and Venusian Landscapes

High-resolution images of Martian gullies, Venusian mountains, and eroded terrains, showcasing varied extraterrestrial geological features.

Martian Gullies
Martian Gullies
256 assets in this story
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Portion of wrinkle ridge extending from Mons Hansteen to the northeast.
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This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows dark material at impact craters, up to 12.5 miles-wide (20 kilometer-wide) and sets of worm-like tracks in the north-south direction.
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The floor of the crater at the top of this image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft is completely covered by a large sand sheet with surface dune forms. Now that is it near the end of northern spring all the frost has disappeared from the sand.
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THEMIS Images as Art #11
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Buried Craters of Utopia
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THEMIS Images as Art #30
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Peak and a Half
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This MOC image shows a light-toned wind streak created in the -- the downwind side -- of an impact crater in the Cyane Fossae region of Mars
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1997 Lava Flows Near Pillan Patera, Io
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This perspective view of Cornelia crater on the giant asteroid Vesta shows an example of 'pitted terrain,' an unexpected discovery in data returned by NASA's Dawn mission.
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These images from NASA's Dawn spacecraft are located in asteroid Vesta's Numisia quadrangle, southern hemisphere; layers can be seen slumping towards the crater's center and there is slightly brighter material overlying slightly less bright material.
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Cerberus Fissure by Mars Odyssey
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Grooved Herschel Dunes
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Matabei's Unusual Dark Rays
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Daedalia Streak
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Buried Crater
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This anaglyph, from NASA's Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, shows basalt cliffs along the northwest edge of the Meseta de Somuncura plateau near Sierra Colorada, Argentina. 3D glasses are necessary to view this image.
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Some of the weirdest and least-understood landscapes on Mars are on the floor of the deep Hellas impact basin. MRO.
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Yardangs in Aeolis
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Streamlined Island
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This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows more north polar dunes. If you compare multiple dune images, you will see that the dunes can take different forms and cover different amounts of the plains.
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This MOC image shows narrow channel on the upper east flank of the martian volcano, Hadriaca Patera. Located on a volcano, most likely this channel was formed by lava, perhaps as a lava tube at which the thin roof later collapsed
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The Groovy Dunes of Herschel
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Daedalia Planum Wind Streaks
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This image shows the margin of a lava flow on a plain northwest of Jovis Tholus, a volcanic construct located in the Tharsis region of Mars
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This MOC image shows a bowl-shaped crater on the martian northern plains with a mysterious radiant pattern of zones with and without boulders and rocks
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Reull Vallis Floor
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This simulated perspective view shows Occator Crater, measuring 57 miles (92 kilometers) across and 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) deep, which contains the brightest area on Ceres. This region has been the subject of intense interest since Dawn's approach to the dwarf planet in early 2015. This view, which faces north, was made using images from Dawn's low-altitude mapping orbit, 240 miles (385 kilometers) above Ceres. Dawn's close-up view reveals a dome in a smooth-walled pit in the bright center of the crater. Numerous linear features and fractures crisscross the top and flanks of this dome. Prominent fractures also surround the dome and run through smaller, bright regions found within the crater. The central dome area is called Cerealia Facula and the dimmer bright areas are called Vinalia Faculae.
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Trough in Tempe
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These images from NASA's Dawn spacecraft are located in Tuccia quadrangle, in Vesta's southern hemisphere.
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Sirenum Fossae Troughs
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The linear depressions at the top half of this VIS image are graben that are called Cerberus Fossae. Graben form where extensional tectonic forces allows blocks of material to subside between paired faults. Cerberus Fossae are located in Elysium Planitia, southeast of the Elysium Mons volcanic complex. This graben is also the source of significant liquid flows, which created Athabasca Valles. The actual formation liquid proposed include flood water, low viscosity lava, and even glaciers. It is possible that water and lava both played a role in creating the channel system. Orbit Number 78821 Latitude 10.1133 Longitude 157.297 Instrument VIS Captured 2019-09-21 10 33
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The landslide deposit in this image captured by NASA's Mars Odyssey is located in shallow extension of Tithonium Chasma, in the western part of Valles Marineris.
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Exhumed Craters near Kaiser
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San Andreas-sized Strike-slip Fault on Europa
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Lava Flows in Tharsis
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High-Resolution MOC Image of Phobos' Stickney Crater
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A distinctive 'pitted terrain' observed by NASA's Dawn mission on asteroid Vesta has also been seen on Mars. The morphologies of pits are similar on both bodies, with irregular shapes and sharp angles where pits share walls.
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Major Martian Volcanoes from MOLA - Olympus Mons
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In a Different Light
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This daytime infrared image taken by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows the numerous small channels that comprise Mangala Valles.
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Inky Stains on a Frozen Moon
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North Nilosyrtis Mensae
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B722023-2 U12G Fast Gate Parts C. Gulick (Project Engineer) Dec 13 72 EG&G/NTS PHOTO LAB Publication Date: 12/13/1972 DEBRIS; EDGERTON, GERMESHAUSEN & GRIER; EG&G; GATES; MEASUREMENT; METALS; NEVADA; NEVADA TEST SITE; NTS; NUCLEAR ENERGY TECHNOLOGY; NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS; NUCLEAR TESTING; NUCLEAR TESTS; PARTS; RUBBLE; RULER; TEST SITES; UGT; UNDERGROUND TESTING; FAST GATE PARTS historical images. 1972 - 2012. Department of Energy. National Nuclear Security Administration. Photographs Related to Nuclear Weapons Testing at the Nevada Test Site.
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Exhuming Landforms
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These views from NASA's Cassini Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) present a side-by-side comparisons of a traditional view and one made using a new technique called despeckling for handling electronic noise that results in clearer views of Titan's surface.
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View of lunar farside with craters Goclenius (far left), Gutenberg D (bottom center), and three clustered craters Magelhaens, Magelhaens A, and Colombo A, as photographed from Apollo 8 spacecraft, Johnson Space Center, NASA , December 24, 1968
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This observation was originally intended to image the contact between two terrain types a rocky ridge separates the rugged left from the smoother right side. But during planning, a targeting specialist chose to extend the image further north (to the top), to capture a nearby crater. (Extending images for some extra coverage is common practice when data volume allows.) That extension has given us a bonus beauty! The steep walls of the crater are covered with slope streaks formed by material falling down towards the crater's center. There are so many in this case that the crater is reminiscent of a delicate dandelion clock. Looking closer, we can also see that the exposed layering gives us more information about the subsurface of Mars.
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NASA's Curiosity rover and its parachute were spotted by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as Curiosity descended to the surface on Aug. 5 PDT (Aug. 6 EDT). Curiosity and its parachute are in the center of the white box.
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Opportunity Slices into the Surface of Mars
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Enceladus Rev 91 Flyby - Skeet Shoot #1
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Small, Bouldery Crater
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Studying what happened when tells geologists about the history of Mars. A crater that punched through the surface of Mars reveals multiple layers formed previously below the surface. Half of the crater was then destroyed by the opening of the channel. Small craters pepper the ejecta blanket of the larger crater but a few are visible in the channel, another clue to its younger age. The most recent signs of activity are the boulders that have tumbled down the sides of the channel.
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First HiRISE Image of Mars
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'RAT' Hole on 'Pilbara' (post-RAT)
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Intracrater Dune Field
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AS14-64-9129 (6 Feb. 1971) --- The two moon-exploring crew men of the Apollo 14 lunar landing mission, photographed and collected the large rock pictured just above the exact center of this picture. (Hold picture with the NASA photographic number at lower right hand corner.) The rock, casting a shadow off to the left, is lunar sample number 14321, referred to as a basketball-sized rock by newsmen and nicknamed "Big Bertha" by principal investigators. It lies between the wheel tracks made by the modular equipment transporter (MET) or rickshaw-type portable workbench. A few prints of the lunar overshoes of the crew members are at the left. This photo was made near the boulder field near the rim of Cone Crater.
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Light and Dark Slope Streaks
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The channel in this VIS image is part of Hebrus Vallis, located on the western margin of the Elysium volcanic complex.
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Layers in 8N, 7W Crater
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NASA's Curiosity rover found evidence for an ancient, flowing stream on Mars at a few sites, including a rock which the science team has named 'Hottah' after Hottah Lake in Canada's Northwest Territories. 3-D glasses are needed.
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Each image on this High Resolution Stereo Camera Image Composite (HRSC) mosaic is of the same location observed by Dawn's Framing Camera when it flew by Mars to complete the spacecraft's gravity assist maneuver on February 17, 2009.
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. Tycho Central Peak Spectacular
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Spirit Lightens the Load
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Slipher Crater: Fractured Moon in 3-D
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The wall of Slipher crater is deformed by one of many scarps found in the lunar highlands.
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Fretted Terrain Valleys
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MGS MOC Image of Mars Exploration Rover, Spirit, on Mars
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This MOC image shows a portion of a chain of pits on a lava- and dust-covered plain northwest of Tharsis Tholus, one of the many volcanic constructs in the Tharsis region of Mars
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Schiaparelli Sedimentary Rocks
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Many fractures on the Moon are seen in the floors of ancient, flat-floored highlands craters in this image taken by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
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This image shows comet Tempel 1 approximately 30 seconds before NASA's Deep Impact's probe smashed into its surface. It was taken by the probe's impactor targeting sensor.
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Isidis Planitia
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Meridiani Crater
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Galileo's Last View of Tvashtar, Io
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One type of feature of scientific interest on the mountain inside Gale crater is exposure of cemented fractures, evidence that groundwater once reached to at least that height of the mountain. This image is from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
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Scamander Vallis
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Different Spokes
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. From Low to High Channels. This image shows the transition from a regular channel to an inverted channel in Arabia Terra. The channel was once flowing with water that carved down into the bedrock to produce a depression. As the water flow slowed down, sediment became deposited within the channel that caused it to partially fill up. Over time, the landscape around the channel eroded away faster than the sediments within the channel, leaving behind a portion that now stands above the terrain, called an inverted channel. Why only one section of the channel is inverted while the rest is still a depression is unclear, but may reflect the local topography and hardness of the neighboring materials that only protected the channel in some places.
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Context Camera Views an Impact Crater in Amazonis Planitia. This meteoroid impact crater on Mars was discovered using the black-and-white Context Camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The Context Camera took this image showing the impact, which occurred Dec. 24, 2021, in a region called Amazonis Planitia. Relying on data from the Mars Color Imager camera, also aboard MRO, along with seismic data from NASA's InSight lander, scientists were able to determine when this particular crater formed. Looking closely at the crater's rim, white specks could be detected that suggested the presence of water ice (which was later confirmed by MRO's High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE, camera). Debris thrown during the impact can be seen reaching as far as 23 miles (37 kilometers) away. The disturbance seen in the surface suggests the meteoroid was traveling towards the northeast when it hit the ground, throwing the longest streaks of debris in that direction.
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This MOC image shows the sinuous margin of a dust-covered, ridged lava flow in southern Daedalia Planum, Mars
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Exhuming Craters in a Crater
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This MOC image shows a ring marking the location of a nearly-filled, nearly-buried impact crater on the martian northern plains. Remnants of bright, seasonal frost occur in some polygonal cracks on the plain
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The South Pole is receiving sun every day now as spring progresses. The surface texture visible in this image captured by NASA's Mars Odyssey was created by the effect of solar warming on the ice.
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MOC View of Mars98 Landing Zone - 12/24/97
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South Polar Layer Remnants
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The pitted appearance of the south polar cap ice in this image from NASA's Mars Odyssey is similar to the appearance of a slice of swiss cheese.
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A dune in the northern polar region of Mars shows significant changes between June 25, 2008 and May 21, 2010 in one of two images taken on by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
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Air photography revealing the city of Ur. The capital city of Mesopotamia, established around 2100 B.C was most famously excavated by Mr Leonard Wooley. Date: 28th July 1923
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This illustration shows some of the final images used to determine that the coast is clear for NASA's New Horizons' flight through the Pluto system.
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This daytime infrared image of Rabe Crater illustrates the warming effect of the sun on sand. The extensive sand sheet and dunes of Rabe crater appear bright in the infrared indicating they are warmer than the surrounding floor and plains materials.
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Focus on Flatrock
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angled view of the Giordano Bruno, Lunar crater, 2016. The height and sharpness of the rim are evident, as well as the crater floor's rolling hills and rugged nature.
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Sand Dunes of Nili Patera, Syrtis Major
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Sand Dunes in Wirtz Crater Seen By Mars Global Surveyor
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These images from NASA's Dawn spacecraft are located in asteroid Vesta's Gegania quadrangle, a little south of Vesta's equator; boulders can be seen on the bottom side of the crater.
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This anaglyph NASA's Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, shows the Haro and Kas Hills of the Kachchh region in western India. 3D glasses are necessary to view this image.
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Syrtis Plain
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Meridiani Planum Soil