Mars Orbiter Captures Uncommon View of Historic Volcano Poking Above the Clouds

Floating in orbit above Mars, NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter captured a panorama of the Purple Planet’s greatest volcanoes, Arsia Mons, peeking over a sea of clouds. The picturesque second presents an exceptionally uncommon view of a Martian volcano, displaying the landform at an angle in house that captures the planet’s horizon.

“We picked Arsia Mons hoping we’d see the summit poke above the early morning clouds. And it didn’t disappoint,” Jonathon Hill, the operations lead for Odyssey’s digicam and a mission planner at Arizona State College’s Mars House Flight Facility, referred to as the Thermal Emission Imaging System, or THEMIS, mentioned in a statement. THEMIS can view Mars in each seen and infrared mild.

Launched in 2001, Odyssey has been circling round Mars for over 20 years, learning the Martian floor. However in 2023, the orbiter started taking breathtaking panoramic views of the Martian horizon. As a result of THEMIS can’t pivot to get these beautiful views, the orbiter flips on its facet, rotating a full 90 levels. That manner, it captured Mars’ “limb,” the sting of the planet’s horizon. That is THEMIS’ fourth limb observation since 2023.

Odyssey captured the picture on Could 2, simply earlier than daybreak. In it, Arsia Mons stands 12 miles (20 kilometers) excessive and measures 70 miles (450 km) in diameter. For comparability, Earth’s tallest volcano, Mauna Loa, stands 6 miles (9 km) above the seafloor and measures 75 miles (121 km) in diameter.

Arsia Mons can also be one in every of Mars’ cloudiest volcanoes and the southernmost of the three Tharsis volcanoes that kind Tharsis Montes, or Tharsis Mountains. These mountains are sometimes surrounded by water ice clouds, significantly early within the morning. The clouds kind when air expands because it blows up the perimeters of the mountain after which quickly cools.

This view additionally permits scientists to review Martian climate and phenomena like mud clouds and the way they modify over the course of the seasons. Odyssey would possibly be capable of seize just a few extra of those panoramas earlier than its eventual retirement, possible on the end of this year.