PIA09988: Verde Vallis


Verde Vallis

Caption:

Context image for PIA09988 Verde Vallis
Context image for PIA09988
Verde Vallis

The major Martian dust storm of 2007 filled the sky with dust and produced conditions that prevented the THEMIS VIS camera from being able to image the surface. With no new images being acquired, we've dug into the archive to highlight some interesting areas on Mars. The this week's topic is medium sized channels. Verde Vallis has a realitively uniform width, but erosion of the walls has reduced the channel depth and makes the valley indistinct from its surroundings in some areas.

Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude -1.0N, Longitude 30.1°E. 18 meter/pixel resolution.

Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.

Background Info:

Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

Cataloging Keywords:

Name Value Additional Values
Target Mars
System
Target Type Planet
Mission 2001 Mars Odyssey
Instrument Host Mars Odyssey
Host Type Orbiter
Instrument Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS)
Detector
Extra Keywords Atmosphere, Dust, Grayscale, Storm, Thermal
Acquisition Date
Release Date 2007-09-17
Date in Caption
Image Credit NASA/JPL/ASU
Source photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA09988
Identifier PIA09988