PHOTO | 'Bear on Mars?': NASA orbiter captures unusual sight of 'Red Planet'
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), recording the surface of Mars, caught a "bear's face", CNN reported.
The photo taken with the High Resolution Imaging Experiment camera clearly shows the unusual geological formation. The circular shape of the rim, which is supposed to be some kind of fissure around a volcano, "reflects" the bear's head, two shallow craters outline the eyes, and the inverted "G"-shaped elevation is probably a volcanic vent, or else an accretion mud, resembling a muzzle. This peculiar pile may be the result of deposition at the very top of a buried crater that was filled with lava or mud.
The University of Arizona, which developed the camera with Ball Aerospace, released the image.
HiPOD: A Bear on Mars?
This feature looks a bit like a bear's face. What is it really?
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NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona#March #science #NASA https://t.co/2WUNquTUZH pic.twitter.com/1k2ZnLcJ5o
- HiRISE: Beautiful Mars (NASA) (@HiRISE) January 25, 2023
The High Resolution Imaging Experiment camera has been photographing Mars since 2006, when the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter began orbiting the Red Planet. The powerful camera is designed to image the surface of Mars with fairly high precision.
The spacecraft orbits Mars in 112 minutes, at a speed of about 255 km above its south pole or 320 km above its north pole. The orbiter serves NASA to study the atmosphere, weather and climate of Mars.
It also looks for evidence of water, ice and complex terrain and sites for possible future missions.
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