Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Wide Angle View of Arsia Mons Volcano
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-179, 27 September 1999
Arsia Mons (right) is one of the largest volcanoes known. This
shield volcano is part of an aligned trio known as the Tharsis
Montes--the others are Pavonis Mons and Ascraeus Mons. Arsia Mons
is rivaled only by Olympus Mons in terms of its volume. The summit
of Arsia Mons is more than 9 kilometers (5.6 miles) higher than the
surrounding plains. The crater--or caldera--at the volcano
summit is approximately 110 km (68 mi) across.
This view of Arsia Mons was taken by the red and blue wide angle cameras
of the Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) system. Bright
water ice clouds (the whitish/bluish wisps) hang above the volcano--a
common sight every martian afternoon in this region. Arsia Mons is located
at 120° west longitude and 9° south latitude. Illumination
is from the left.
For a higher-resolution view of this image (775 Kbytes),
Click HERE.
Malin Space Science Systems and the California Institute of Technology
built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS
operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Jet Propulsion
Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor
spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from
facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO.
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Contact: info@msss.com