Odyssey Over Mars
Scroll right and
journey
for 300 kilometers
over Terra Sirenum in the
cratered
highlands of southern
Mars.
The infrared view,
32 kilometers wide, was recently recorded by
the THEMIS
camera on board the orbiting
Mars Odyssey spacecraft.
Beginning
at the north (left) edge, the scene sweeps across the floor
and over the rim of Koval'sky Crater.
Continuing
southward
(right) of the crater's rim are
lava flows
exhibiting fractures and numerous smaller impact craters.
The infrared image was made in daylight hours,
so sun-facing slopes are still
warm and bright while shadowed areas are cool and dark.
But rocky regions also tend to remain
cooler and darker than their
surroundings, likely corresponding to the dark blotchy terrain
along the Koval'sky Crater floor
and dark rings of rocky ejecta surrounding some of the smaller
craters.