Martian Temperatures Measured by the Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES). Pathfinder Landing Aite View

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Caption:

This image shows the nighttime (2AM) temperatures measured by the Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) instrument on the Mars Global Surveyor wrapped on to a globe. The coldest temperatures (shown in purple) are -120C and the warmest temperatures (white) are -65C. The view is centered at 15N, 45W, near the Pathfinder landing site. The large warm (red) region in the north is Acidalia Planitia, which forms a low basin into which flowed a series of large channels. The floors of these channels can be seen as a pattern of warm (red and yellow) lines, indicating that they are covered with sandy and rocky material. Valles Marineris visible south of the equator as a linear, warm feature that stretches 3500 km. At this season the north polar region is in full sunlight as is relatively warm at night. It is winter in the southern hemisphere and the temperatures are extremely low (~-120C).

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