Take a look at the tallest volcano in the solar system, the Olympus Mons.
NASA‘s 2001 Mars Odyssey captured the incredible image on March 11, 2024, the first of it’s kind from this angle.
Scientists say it helps researchers study the different layers of material in the atmosphere surrounding Mars, including dust and clouds.
Odyssey rotated as it used the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS), facing the horizon as the orbiter soared past.
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The Mars Odyssey then took a striking panorama photo, part of many it took using this technique at various times of the year to let scientists study how the atmosphere changes with the seasons.
The white band at the bottom is believed to be dust present, and the purple layer, said to be a combination of Mars’ red dust and water-ice clouds, can be seen in the image. The blue-green layer is made up of water-ice clouds that can stretch for 50 km (31 miles) into the sky.
The Odyssey holds the record for the longest continually active mission in orbit around a planet other than Earth.
It was the first craft to make a global map of the chemical elements and minerals on the Martian surface.
It finished it’s primary mission in August 2004, but continues its work today, now studying fog, frost, clouds and mapping surface rocks to help with landings on the Red Rock later.
It’s nearing it’s 100,000th trip around the Red Planet.
Aside from Olympus Mons, it also captured sight of the biggest canyon in the solar system that somehow puts the Grand Canyon to shame. Valles Marineris stretches as far as the distance from California to New York, with steep walls almost as high as Mount Everest.
The side canyons are believed to have been carved into shape by water.
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