Perspective view of the south west of Tharsis Tholus
Perspective view of the south west of Tharsis Tholus
Between 28 October and 13 November 2004, the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board Mars Express acquired a series of images during orbits 0997, 1019, 1041 and 1052, which have been combined to form this mosaic image showing the Martian volcano Tharsis Tholus. With a base measuring 155 by 125 kilometres, the 8000-metre Tharsis Tholus may only be a ‘mid-range’ volcano, but when measured against terrestrial standards, it is truly gigantic. The false-colour image is based on digital terrain models of the region, from which the topography of the landscape can be derived. The illustration shows the caldera at its centre, which has a depth of more than 2500 metres.
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.