The diversity of the landscape of Mars, complete with huge sand dunes, melting ice caps, gullies and craters has been captured in new pictures from the world’s most powerful camera , The HiRise. Pictured is the Proctor Crater’s ripples which are composed of fine sand. The ripples have over time become covered with dust which may account for the brighter tones
Mars’ seasonal cap of carbon dioxide ice which erodes every spring forming ‘mini craters’
The rock formation in this ‘ Stereo Image ‘ suggests it was formed using a process called ‘Rhythmic Bedding’. The individual layers suggests the patterns arose from changes in the planet’s tilt
Colour enhanced view of Deimos, the smaller of the two moons of Mars taken by the HiRISE camera
The dark branched features on the floor of Antoniadi Crater look like giant ferns, or fern casts. However, these ferns would be several miles in size and are composed of rough rocky materials.
False-colour image of gullies with characteristics of water-carved channels
Detail of one of Mars’ moons, Phobos
Avalanches captured by HiRise on the surface of Mars. Material, including fine-grained ice, dust and possibly large blocks, have detached from a towering cliff and cascaded to the gentler slopes below
Image taken from the HiRise camera looking back at the Earth and Moon from Mars