Mars: Big Crater in Stereo
Get out your
red/blue glasses and check out
this stereo picture of "Big Crater" on Mars!
(Pieces of red and blue or green clear plastic will do.
Your right eye should look through the red piece.)
The stereo perspective was created by combining images from the
Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft taken on two different orbits, each
with a slightly different viewing angle.
At just under a mile in diameter, Big Crater is not all
that big but
it is an important landmark in the vicinity of the
Mars Pathfinder landing site
on an ancient flood plain in Ares Vallis.
Identifying corresponding smaller scale features in
Pathfinder and
Surveyor images will help to precisely locate the lander.
Meanwhile, the line of sight between the Earth and Mars
is approaching the Sun.
During this period,
known as solar conjunction, communicating with
Mars Global Surveyor will be difficult.