Mars. Coloured Viking orbiter image of the southern polar region of Mars superimposed on a starfield. Clouds and dust in the tenuous Martian atmospher

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Mars. Coloured Viking orbiter image of the southern polar region of Mars superimposed on a starfield. Clouds and dust in the tenuous Martian atmosphere (purple) are seen above the limb. This view is over the Argyre Planitia basin, a large impact crater. The Viking spacecraft were launched in August (Viking 1) and September (Viking 2) 1975. They gathered over 50,000 images of Mars.

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Size: 2842px × 3167px
Photo credit: © NASA/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: argyre, astronomy, astrophysics, atmosphere, basin, clouds, cosmology, crater, dust, imagery, impact, mars, martian, planet, planetary, planitia, pole, science, south, viking