Black and white top view of Tharsis Tholus
Black and white top view of Tharsis Tholus
The impressive size of Tharsis Tholus is easily visible in this top view. The base of Tharsis Tholus measures 155 by 125 kilometres. As the nadir image shows, the volcano is surrounded by numerous solidified lava flows, hiding the original base of the volcano. Taking into account the number and massive extent of these lava flows, it is possible that Tharsis Tholus is ‘submerged’ in lava to a depth of several kilometres.
The High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) acquired images of Tharsis Tholus over the course of several orbits, which have been combined to form a mosaic image with a resolution of 14 metres per pixel.
Copyright note:
As a joint undertaking by DLR, ESA and FU Berlin, the Mars Express HRSC images are published under a Creative Commons licence since December 2014: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO. This licence will also apply to all HRSC images released to date.