PIA11184: Clouds Move Across Mars Horizon


Clouds Move Across Mars Horizon

Caption:

This sequence combines 32 images of clouds moving eastward across a Martian horizon. The Surface Stereo Imager on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander took this set of images on Sept. 18, 2008, during early afternoon hours of the 113th Martian day of the mission.

The view is toward the north. The actual elapsed time between the first image and the last image is nearly half an hour. The numbers inset at lower left are the elapsed time, in seconds, after the first image of the sequence. The particles in the clouds are water-ice, as in cirrus clouds on Earth.

Background Info:

Phoenix landed in the northern region of Mars on May 25, 2008. The mission is led by the University of Arizona, Tucson, on behalf of NASA. Project management of the mission is led by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft development was by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver.

Photojournal Note: As planned, the Phoenix lander, which landed May 25, 2008 23:53 UTC, ended communications in November 2008, about six months after landing, when its solar panels ceased operating in the dark Martian winter.

Cataloging Keywords:

Name Value Additional Values
Target Mars
System
Target Type Planet
Mission Phoenix
Instrument Host Phoenix Lander
Host Type Lander
Instrument Solid-State Imaging (SSI)
Detector
Extra Keywords Grayscale, Movie, Water
Acquisition Date
Release Date 2008-09-20
Date in Caption
Image Credit NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/ Texas A&M University
Source photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA11184
Identifier PIA11184