Great Images from Mars
July 20th 2010 07:54
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Phobos
The Martian pictures just keep on improving NASA’s Reconnaissance Orbiter is still taking high resolution colour images. Previous spacecraft orbiting Mars have taken similar images, the Mars global surveyor spacecraft has taken multiple high-resolution images of one of Mars’s moon Phobos.
Each high-rise image covers an area of around 7 km and the detail in the images are of very high quality.
The images are combined to form a stereo view and can resolve objects on the surface down to a meter.
High resolution image of the Martian Surface
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been mapping Mars with an advanced set of instruments since 2006.
The new images of Phobos will help researchers evaluate the origin and formation of this particular moon. Phobos has an irregular shape more like a potato.
Phobos and our moon share some similarities. The blue colour on Phobos may mean that the surface material is not as exposed as material found on other parts of Phobo`s surface structure.
Phobos is an interesting moon to study as it may have rich deposits of ice and carbon- rich materials.
What is most interesting about Phobos is it was almost destroyed when a large impact object collided with Phobos leaving a large impact crater measuring in the order of 9 kilometers in diameter.
Phobos and sister moon Deimos like our own moon that is, they always present the same side to the planet they orbit.
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