Author: Mary Beth Griggs
Mars is looking like a cool destination this time of year, especially in this picture recently released by the European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter. The image shows the icy heart of the perennially chilly Korolev crater, and is one of a few snapshots sent back from Mars’ robot explorers to Earth this holiday season.
The Korolev crater formed sometime in Mars’ turbulent past, when another object slammed into the northern lowlands of the planet, leaving a scar fifty miles wide and more than a mile deep. Dust and water ice slowly accumulated, building up into a glacier that has nearly filled the hole left behind by that long-ago collision.
ESA/DLR/FU Berlin
Another view of the Korolev crater
The European...
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Mars is looking like a cool destination this time of year, especially in this picture recently released by the European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter. The image shows the icy heart of the perennially chilly Korolev crater, and is one of a few snapshots sent back from Mars’ robot explorers to Earth this holiday season.
The Korolev crater formed sometime in Mars’ turbulent past, when another object slammed into the northern lowlands of the planet, leaving a scar fifty miles wide and more than a mile deep. Dust and water ice slowly accumulated, building up into a glacier that has nearly filled the hole left behind by that long-ago collision.
ESA/DLR/FU Berlin
Another view of the Korolev crater
The European...
Continue reading…
Continue reading...