Martian Terrain and Dunes

A collection of black and white images depicting varied Martian landscapes, including dunes, terrain complexity, and frost sublimation, showcased through radar imaging.

Target of Opportunity to the South

Complex Terrain

This MOC image shows part of a dune field in Chasma Boreale, the large north polar trough. The bright material covering the dunes is frozen carbon dioxide

Dark surface material is starting to appear as the frost is sublimated in this image of Pityusa Patera as seen by NASA's Mars Odyssey.

Target of Opportunity to the South

This synthetic-aperture radar image was obtained by NASA's Cassini spacecraft during its T-120 pass over Titan's southern latitudes on June 7, 2016.

NASA's Magellan spacecraft has observed remnant landslide deposits apparently resulting from the collapse of volcanic structures.

Polygons in Utopia

Olympian Flows

Meridiani Outcrops

Landslide!

East Tharsis Flows

Sedimentary Rock Layers

Karte der USA auf Mohn - Map of the USA on poppy seeds Karte der USA auf Mohn - Map of the USA on poppy seeds Copyright: xZoonar.com/lantapixx 10633004

This VIS image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft of the south polar region was collected during the summer season. The markings of the pole are very diverse and easy to see after the winter frost has been removed.

Sedimentary Rock Near Coprates

This radar image from NASA's Magellan is of part of the Phoebe region of Venus. It is a mosaic of parts of revolutions 146 and 147 acquired in the first radar test on Aug. 16, 1990.

B722020 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.

Mesas on Depression Floor

The Magellan spacecraft has observed remnant landslide deposits apparently resulting from the collapse of volcanic structures.

Granicus Vallis Channels

This full resolution radar mosaic from NASA's Magellan spacecraft shows a 200 kilometer (124 mile) segment of a sinuous channel on Venus.

Europa Ice Cliffs-High Resolution

This image from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a view of boulders, on the floor of Rutherfurd crater, about to disappear into the shadows of dusk.

South Polar Cap

This is a mosaic assembled from some of the images taken by the panoramic camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity during the rover's 590th sol (Sept. 21, 2005). The view is toward the south and includes rock exposures north of Erebus Crater, with the crater in the background. The rover will investigate the exposed rocks in the foreground and will take additional panoramic-camera images of Erebus Crater, which is about 300 meters (about 984 feet) across. Erebus Crater dwarfs the landing-site crater, Eagle Crater, which measures about 22 meters (72 feet) in diameter. And, it is nearly twice the diameter of Endurance Crater, which, at 130 meters (430 feet) wide, has been compared to a stadium. The camera's red filter was used for taking the images in this mosaic. It admits light with a wavelength of 750 nanometers http //photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06341

During its closest ever dive past the active south polar region of Saturn's moon Enceladus, NASA's Cassini spacecraft quickly shuttered its imaging cameras to capture glimpses of the fast moving terrain below.

Bright Lava Flows at Emakong Patera, Io

Southwest Lakshmi Planum (plains) is bounded on the south by the Danu Montes (mountains).

The white streamers are located on the west wall of an unnamed crater lying near the center of the crater Henry Frères. The streamers are composed of blocky material, that slid down the crater wall towards the floor.

This image from NASA's Magellan spacecraft, with radar illumination from west to east, shows three unusual volcanoes located in the Guinevere Planitia lowland.

Meridiani's Rocks

Dark Mesas of Aram Chaos

In this image from NASA's Mars Odyssey of dunes near the north pole of Mars it appears that small individual dunes are coalescing into larger dune forms.

S69-39541 (19 July 1969) --- A near vertical view of Diamondback Rille is seen in this color reproduction taken from the fourth color television transmission from the Apollo 11 spacecraft, during its second revolution of the moon. The center of the picture is located at about 26.9 degrees east longitude and 1.2 degrees north latitude. This area is just east of the Apollo Landing Site 2. The crew of the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission is astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, command module pilot; and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot.

Tithonium Landslide

Wind Erosion in Tithonium

Region of Ganymede with Mix of Terrains

Galileo Regio Mosaic - Galileo over Voyager Data

This view shows the texture of the ground in the area that was favored as a landing site for NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander mission. The pattern resembles permafrost terrain on Earth, where cycles of thawing and freezing cause cracking into polygon shapes.

This MOC image shows ancient, dust-covered lava flows and remains of leveed lava channels located on a plain northwest of Jovis Tholus. Jovis is a relatively small volcano in the Tharsis region of Mars

Light-toned Rock Outcrop in Aureum Chaos

Boulders and impact melt on the interior wall of a recent crater.

22 September 2005 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows details among some of the eroded layer outcrops of the martian south polar region. Much of the south polar region of Mars is covered by a thick unit of layered material. For decades, the layers have been assumed to consist of a mixture of dust and ice, but it is equally possible that the materials are sedimentary rocks. This image was captured during southern spring, at a time when some of the surface was still covered by seasonal carbon dioxide (CO2) frost. Location near 86.5°S, 116.6°W Image width width ~3 km (~1.9 mi) Illumination from upper left Season Southern Spring http //photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06344

Planet Venus. the Venusian crater Golubkina, a 340 kilometre (20.4 miles) diameter impact crater, contains Magellan data mosaicked with a Soviet Venera 15/16 radar image of the same feature. The Magellan part of the image (right) reveals details of the geology of the crater such as the central peak, the inner terraced walls, and the extremely smooth floor of the crater. The smoothness of the floor may be due to pounding of volcanic lava flows in the crater floor. The rough, blocky morphology of the crater ejecta and the sharp terraced crater wall suggest that this feature is relatively young.

The Solar Storm, at Mercury

Dark-floored Impact Craters on Ganymede

Karte von Neuseeland auf Mohn - Map of New Zealand on poppy seeds Karte von Neuseeland auf Mohn - Map of New Zealand on poppy seeds Copyright: xZoonar.com/lantapix,x 10740986

THEMIS Images as Art #20

Crater and Streaks

Carbon Dioxide Mesas

Aerial photograph showing some gigantic intaglio pictographs found in the Californian desert, 1932. These intaglio pictographs were formed by an unknown artist, by removing the layer of pebbles that covered the rest of the barren mesa. Date: 1932

Becquerel's Layers

This image rom NASA's Magellan spacecraft shows part of the northern boundary of Ovda Regio, one of the large highlands ringing the equator of Venus.

An overhead view of an Iranian mine found in international waters. The guided missile frigate USS SAMUEL B. ROBERTS (FFG-58) struck a mine while patrolling in the same area on April 14, 1988. Country: Unknown

This MOC image shows a summertime view of the south polar residual cap of Mars. In this image, mesas composed largely of solid carbon dioxide are separated from one another by irregularly-shaped depressions

This radar image acquired by NASA's Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) from data collected on February 16, 2000 shows the San Francisco Bay Area in California.

This image comes from observations of steep crater slopes on Terra Cimmeria by the HiRISE camera onboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Coprates Chasma Landslides in IR

Abraded Target on Rock Champagne in Gusev Crater

Xanadu's Channels

This MOC image shows gullies in the north wall of a crater south of Proctor Crater in Noachis Terra. Dark streaks cutting across the scene were formed by passing dust devils

STS059-S-026 (11 April 1994) --- This is an image of Death Valley, California, centered at 36.629 degrees north latitude, 117.069 degrees west longitude. The image shows Furnace Creek alluvial fan and Furnace Creek Ranch at the far right, and the sand dunes near Stove Pipe Wells at the center. The dark fork-shaped feature between Furnace Creek fan and the dunes is a smooth flood-plain which encloses Cottonball Basin. The SIR-C/X-SAR supersite is an area of extensive field investigations and has been visited by both Space Radar Lab astronaut crews. Elevations in the Valley range from 70 meters below sea level, the lowest in the United States, to more than 3300 meters above sea level. Scientists are using SIR-C/X-SAR data from Death Valley to help answer a number of different questions about the Earth's geology. One question concerns how alluvial fans are formed and change through time under the influence of climatic changes and earthquakes. Alluvial fans are gravel deposits that wash do

Defrosty Dunes

The track left by an oblong boulder as it tumbled down a slope on Mars runs from upper left to right center of this image taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Intersecting linear ridges are found in several locations around the south polar cap.

This MOC image shows the contact between an area of light-toned rock and an expanse of darker-toned materials on the floor of Coprates Chasma

Syrtis Streaks by Mars Odyssey

Karte von Irland auf Mohn - Map of Ireland on poppy seeds Karte von Irland auf Mohn - Map of Ireland on poppy seeds Copyright: xZoonar.com/lantapixx 11571415

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a portion of a field of dark sand dunes superposed on the light-toned floorof a crater in eastern Tyrrhena Terra

This image from NASA's Magellan spacecraft is of Crater Stephania in northern Sedna Planitia on Venus. It is one of the smaller craters on Venus.

This image from NASA's New Horizons includes dark, ancient heavily cratered terrain, bright, smooth geologically young terrain, assembled masses of mountains, and an enigmatic field of dark, aligned ridges that resemble dunes.

V 5972. Thule (depicted name)

Rugged Terrain on Europa

Some seasonal ice on Mars is transparent so that the sunlight penetrates to the bottom of the ice, as shown in this image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

'Bird's-Eye View Showing Arezzo, Borgho San Sepolco, Perugia, Chiusi and Siena', c1480 (1945). Artist: Leonardo da Vinci.

Schiaparelli's Wind Streaks

Dark Martian Dunes

Small Craters on Europa

Huygens Titan Mosaic #2

Sabaeus Dust Devil

Dust Devil Art

This image from NASA's Magellan spacecraft shows an area of dark volcanic lava flows overlying the brighter surrounding plains which are thought to have been formed from older flows.

This VIS image highlights the dune form/dune density aspects of Olypmia Undae. In the center there is a brighter, diagonal region of few dunes. These dunes are the arc or crescent shape of barchan dunes. As more sand becomes available the barchan dunes begin to merge into transverse dunes. The region of dunes surrounding the bright swath still have the underlying surface visible, and the transverse dunes have a lace-like layout. In the regions with a significant abundance of sand have developed the tightly packed transverse dunes with the wave-like distribution. 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 po

Fine Details of the Icy Surface of Ganymede

Ganymede - Comparison of Voyager and Galileo Resolution

This daytime IR image from NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of the dune field on the floor of Kaiser Crater. The dune sand is warmer than the surrounding materials, so it appears bright in the IR image.

This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey show regions of densely coalesced dunes, common around the North Polar cap of Mars.

Snapshots of Chaac: Io's Calderas Up Close

A stereo pair of images from taken from Mars orbit were used to generate a digital elevation model that is the basis for this simulated perspective view of Cape

This image from NASA's Magellan spacecraft shows an impact crater in the central Eistla Region of the equatorial highlands of Venus. The crater is slightly irregular in platform and its walls appear terraced.

Pollack Crater 'White Rock'

Hawaii - Mauna Loa, Aerial Photograph.

Map of Estonia on poppy seeds

Schiaparelli cPROTO

Aerial view of pingo. Subjects: Trans-Alaska Pipeline; TAPS; permafrost; Industries; oil; ARLIS; Alaska.

Dust Devils Seen Streaking Across Mars: PART 1--What Are These

Derived Topographic Model from Mars Global Surveyor Instruments

Navigation Camera Imagery of Ingenuity's Flight 33. A small piece of foreign object debris (FOD) is seen in footage from the navigation camera of NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter during its 33rd flight on Mars on Sept 24, 2022. The FOD is seen attached to one of the rotorcraft's landing legs, then drifting away. Movie available at

A network of river channels is located atop Xanadu, the continent-sized region on Saturn's moon Titan. This radar image was captured by the Cassini Radar Mapper on April 30, 2006

Agenor Linea on Europa

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