Detail View: NASA Planetary Photo Journal Collection: The Defrosting South
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Title:
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The Defrosting South
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Original Caption Released with Image:
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20 August 2005 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows varied springtime patterns formed in defrosting, seasonal carbon dioxide frost in the south polar region of Mars. The feature sporting an outline of dark spots and an interior of smaller, closely-spaced dark spots and dark-outlined polygons is a patch of windblown or wind-eroded sand that was covered by carbon dioxide frost during the previous autumn and winter. The fainter, larger polygon pattern on either side of the patch of defrosting sand is formed in the substrate upon which the sand patch is sitting. Polygonal forms such as these might indicate the presence of ice below the surface. Location near: 79.6°S, 125.0°W Image width: width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) Illumination from: upper left Season: Southern Spring
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Image Credit:
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NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
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Produced By:
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Malin Space Science Systems
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Mission:
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Mars Global Surveyor (MGS)
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Spacecraft:
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Mars Global Surveyor Orbiter
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Target Name:
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Mars
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Is a satellite of:
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Sol (our sun)
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Instrument:
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Mars Orbiter Camera
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Product Size:
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672 samples x 1624 lines
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Producer ID:
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MOC2-1189
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facet_what:
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Mars
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facet_where:
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Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
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facet_when:
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20 August 2005
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facet_when_year:
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2005
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Image #:
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PIA04162
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UID:
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SPD-PHOTJ-PIA04162
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original url:
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http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA04162
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