The European Space Agency (ESA) has released a photo of Martian landscape, which shows a crater on Aonia Terra in the southern highlands of the Red Planet. The image is grabbing the attention of experts, who are comparing it to the "Eye of the Sahara".
The image was taken by ESA's Mars Express on April 25 this year and shared on Twitter on Sunday.
📷 Our #WeekInImages 6-10 June 👉 https://t.co/GnnVIKuf7q pic.twitter.com/YYE7EnvOlF
— ESA (@esa) June 12, 2022
The "Eye of the Sahara", formerly known as the Richat structure, is located in the Sahara desert in western Africa. The structure is eerily similar to the Martian topography, with a "bull's eye" crater in the middle of the photo clicked 250 miles above the Earth's surface.
According to ESA, the unnamed crater at the centre of the image from Mars is nestled within a landscape of winding channels. The agency believes the channels carried liquid water.
"Conjuring images of veins running through a human eyeball, these channels are likely to have carried liquid water across the surface of Mars around 3.5-4 billion years ago," said the ESA.
It further said that the channels appear to be partly filled with a dark material, and in some places, seem to actually be raised above the surrounding land.
"There are a variety of possible explanations for this. Perhaps erosion-resistant sediment settled at the bottom of the channels when water flowed through them. Or perhaps the channels were filled in with lava later on in Mars' history," the agency added.
The crater's image also shows several colours on the surface, which according to ESA, suggests that this region of Mars is made up of a variety of materials. It said that the colour is warm red near the south, melting into a darker brownish-grey closer to the crater.
Apart from this, many buttes (isolated hills) can also be seen in the image.
The Aonia Terra crater on Mars is known for its impressive craters. It is named after a feature called Aonia a dark patch on the surface of Mars that can be seen from Earth, even with rudimentary telescopes. Aonia was also a region in ancient Greece, a location sacred to the Muses, the goddesses of literature, science and the arts.
The ESA's Mars Express has been orbiting the Red Planet since 2003, clicking photos of the Martian surface and identifying the composition of its atmosphere.The European Space Agency (ESA) has released a photo of Martian landscape, which shows a crater on Aonia Terra in the southern highlands of the Red Planet. The image is grabbing the attention of experts, who are comparing it to the "Eye of the Sahara".
The image was taken by ESA's Mars Express on April 25 this year.
The "Eye of the Sahara", formerly known as the Richat structure, is located in the Sahara desert in western Africa. The structure is eerily similar to the Martian topography, with a "bull's eye" crater in the middle of the photo clicked 250 miles above the Earth's surface.
According to ESA, the unnamed crater at the centre of the image from Mars is nestled within a landscape of winding channels. The agency believes the channels carried liquid water.
"Conjuring images of veins running through a human eyeball, these channels are likely to have carried liquid water across the surface of Mars around 3.5-4 billion years ago," said the ESA.
It further said that the channels appear to be partly filled with a dark material, and in some places, seem to actually be raised above the surrounding land.
"There are a variety of possible explanations for this. Perhaps erosion-resistant sediment settled at the bottom of the channels when water flowed through them. Or perhaps the channels were filled in with lava later on in Mars' history," the agency added.
The crater's image also shows several colours on the surface, which according to ESA, suggests that this region of Mars is made up of a variety of materials. It said that the colour is warm red near the south, melting into a darker brownish-grey closer to the crater.
Apart from this, many buttes (isolated hills) can also be seen in the image.
The Aonia Terra crater on Mars is known for its impressive craters. It is named after a feature called Aonia a dark patch on the surface of Mars that can be seen from Earth, even with rudimentary telescopes. Aonia was also a region in ancient Greece, a location sacred to the Muses, the goddesses of literature, science and the arts.
The ESA's Mars Express has been orbiting the Red Planet since 2003, clicking photos of the Martian surface and identifying the composition of its atmosphere.
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