This image may not be used to state or imply the endorsement by NRAO, AUI or NSF of any company or product Radar image of Mars. This image dates from

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This image may not be used to state or imply the endorsement by NRAO, AUI or NSF of any company or product Radar image of Mars. This image dates from 1988 and was made with the Goldstone Solar System Radar (GSSR) system. Red areas are areas of high radar reflectivity. The south polar ice cap, at the bottom of the image, is the area of highest reflectivity. The other areas of high reflectivity are associated with the giant shield volcanoes of the Tharsis ridge. The dark area to the West of the Tharsis ridge showed no detectable radar echoes. The investigators call this region the 'Stealth' region and believe it is a huge deposit of low density, volcanic ash with an absence of volume scatterers (rocks) to depths of many meters. The radar pulses were transmitted from Earth using the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex (GDSCC), with reflected data received by the Very Large Array (VLA).

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Size: 2959px × 2965px
Photo credit: © D. Muhleman, B. Butler, A. Grossman, and M. Slade, NRAO/AUI/NSF/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: -, 1980s, 1988, array, astronomical, astronomy, astrophysical, astrophysics, background, ball, blue, caps, communications, complex, deep, gdscc, globe, goldstone, gssr, ice, large, mars, martian, planet, planetary, polar, radar, science, solar, space, sphere, spherical, system, tharsis, vla, volcanoes