Sunset at the Viking Lander 1 Site
Image Not Available
Photograph
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
American, estab. 1958
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
American
Sunset at the Viking Lander 1 Site
August 21, 1976
Chromogenic development print
Image: 20.6 x 19.3 cm
Overall: 25.4 x 20.3 cm
Museum accession
2011.0101.0003
Inscriptions verso (applied label, typed): NATIONAL AERONATICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION/ VIKING NEWS CENTER/ PASADENA, CALIFORNIA/ (213) 354-6000/ PHOTO CAPTION/ Viking 1-55/ P-1757 (color)/ August 31, 1976/ This color image of the Martian surface in the Chryse area was taken/ by Viking Lander 1, looking southwest, about 15 minutes before sunset/ on the evening of August 21. The sun is at an elevation angle of 3/ or 4 degrees above the horizon and about 50 degrees clockwise from the/ right edge of the frame. Local topographic features are accentuated/ by the low lighting angle. A depression is seen near the center of the/ picture, just above the Lander's leg support structure, which was not/ evident in previous pictures taken at higher sun angles. Just beyond/ the depression are large rocks about 30 centimeters (1 foot) across./ The diffuse shadows are due to the sunlight that has been scattered by/ the dusty Martian atmosphere as a result of the long path length from/ the setting sun. Toward the horizon, several bright patches of bare/ bedrock are revealed.
