This image may not be used by or to promote the arms, nuclear power or tobacco industries or any religious organisation, or in any discriminatory way,

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This image may not be used by or to promote the arms, nuclear power or tobacco industries or any religious organisation, or in any discriminatory way, or to imply the endorsement by ESO of any product, service or activity Water on a young Mars. Illustration of how Mars may have looked early in its history, about four billion years ago during what is known as the Noachian period. Mars formed around billion years ago. The young planet would have had enough water to cover its entire surface in a liquid layer about 140 metres deep, but it is more likely that the liquid would have pooled to form an ocean occupying almost half of the northern hemisphere, and in some regions reaching depths greater than kilometres.

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Size: 5875px × 3607px
Photo credit: © M. KORNMESSER/EUROPEAN SOUTHERN OBSERVATORY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: -, ancient, areology, artwork, billion, curved, early, geological, geology, illustration, land, limb, liquid, martian, noachian, ocean, period, planet, planetary, prehistoric, prehistory, science, sea, solar, space, system, water, years, young