PIA02015: Martian Temperatures Measured by the Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES). Pathfinder landing site View

Target Name: Mars Is a satellite of: Sol (our sun) Mission: Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Spacecraft: Mars Global Surveyor Orbiter Instrument: Thermal Emission Spectrometer Product Size: 300 samples x 300 lines Produced By: Arizona State University Producer ID: MRPS94809 P50333 Addition Date: 1999-05-06 Primary Data Set: MGS EDRs Full-Res TIFF: PIA02015.tif (32.88 kB) Full-Res JPEG: PIA02015.jpg (23.63 kB)

Original Caption Released with Image: This image shows the nighttime (2AM) temperatures measured by the Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) instrument on the Mars Global Surveyor wrapped on to a globe. The coldest temperatures (shown in purple) are -120C and the warmest temperatures (white) are -65C. The view is centered at 15N, 45W, near the Pathfinder landing site. The large warm (red) region in the north is Acidalia Planitia, which forms a low basin into which flowed a series of large channels. The floors of these channels can be seen as a pattern of warm (red and yellow) lines, indicating that they are covered with sandy and rocky material. Valles Marineris visible south of the equator as a linear, warm feature that stretches 3500 km. At this season the north polar region is in full sunlight as is relatively warm at night. It is winter in the southern hemisphere and the temperatures are extremely low (~-120C). Image Credit: NASA/JPL/ASU