No kidding, here it really is!
A small section of the Echus Chasma
Isn’t that a hoot? According to Reuters, where I snagged this, the European Space Agency’s “Mars Express” took this shot of a place called Echus Chasma. Here are the details:
A 4000-m-high cliff marks the edge of the source area of Kasei Valles in its western part. Gigantic water falls may have once plunged over these cliffs on to the valley floor. The original shoreline is still partially visible. The remarkably smooth valley floor was later flooded by basaltic lava.
The high-resolution photos (JPEGs and TIFFs) available for download at the ESA website should be great for desktop images, too. I’m grabbing a couple right now…
Comment by K.J. Webb
1 July 17, 2008, 3:56 am o'clock |
Thought for a second we were looking close-in at the new implant!
–Looking at such images make me shiver. The French have a better word for it - frisson - which has the same literal meaning but also suggests the thrilling element implicit in the horror. I always think of those astronauts romping around on the moon as if that deadly surface were a suburban backyard and casting their eyes back to that little blue ball where life is actually lived.
Comment by david in maine
2 July 17, 2008, 7:19 pm o'clock |
Looks like viewing NM with google earth from Raton looking east at the land of mesas! Perhaps ESA has PhotoShop and are teasing the Iranians?
Comment by John H. Farr
3 July 17, 2008, 7:25 pm o'clock |
I know, man. The first thing I thought was, “Jesus, it’s New Mexico!” That gray-green is what does the trick, although what we’re looking at isn’t vegetation.