[Valles Marineris canyon on Mars]
Image Not Available
Photograph
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
American, estab. 1958
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
American
[Valles Marineris canyon on Mars]
July 22, 1976
Chromogenic development print
Image: 19.1 x 24.1 cm
Overall: 20.3 x 25.4 cm
Museum accession
2011.0101.0006
Inscriptions verso (applied label, typed): NATIONAL AERONATICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION/ VIKING NEWS CENTER/ PASADENA, CALIFORNIA/ (213) 354-6000/ PHOTO CAPTION/ Viking 1-83/ P-18078 (color Rev. 32)/ OCTOBER 1, 1976/ From 31,000 kilometers (19,200 miles) above Mars, Viking Orbiter/ 1 took 15 black and white photos through three color filters--/ violet, green and red--to form this color mosaic of part of the/ so-called "Grand Canyon of Mars." The canyon, Valles Marineris,/ lies just a few degrees south of the equator and parallels it for/ some 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles) from east to west. In this/ picture, the equator cuts across the top left corner. North is/ to upper left. Area covered is about (1,800 by 2,000 kilometers)/ (1,120 by 1,250 miles)--a little more than twice the area of/ Alaska. The 15 photos, taken near the highest point in the/ Orbiter's 32nd revolution of Mars (on July 22), were computer-/processed and combined at the United States Geological Survey/ facility in Flagstaff, Arizona.
