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PIA10245-Martian landslide
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
February 19, 2008,
- Classification
- Photograph
- Museum
- Wikimedia Commons
- Credit line
- PIA10245: Caught in Action: Avalanches on North Polar Scarps
- Rights
- Public domain, as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its subject is for older viewers (war, death, the Passion, drink or the like). How works are placed
About this work
Descriptions courtesy of NASA:
The image shows a Martian avalanche, or debris fall, in action.
Cameras orbiting Mars have taken thousands of images that have enabled scientists to put together pieces of Mars' geologic history. However, most of them reveal landscapes that haven't changed much in millions of years. Some images taken at different times of year do show seasonal changes from one image to the next, however, it is extremely rare to catch such a dramatic event in action. (Another, unrelated, active process that has been captured by Mars cameras are dust devils.) Observing currently active processes is often a useful tool in unlocking puzzles of the past for scientists studying the Earth. Working from primarily still images, it is harder for scientists studying Mars to rely on this tool. The HiRISE image of avalanching debris is a very rare opportunity to directly do so.
