PIA11230: Late-summer Martian Dust Storm

Target Name: Mars Is a satellite of: Sol (our sun) Mission: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) Phoenix Spacecraft: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) Instrument: Mars Color Imager (MARCI) Product Size: 2312 samples x 2322 lines Produced By: Malin Space Science Systems Full-Res TIFF: PIA11230.tif (16.12 MB) Full-Res JPEG: PIA11230.jpg (237.4 kB)

Original Caption Released with Image: This is an image of Mars taken from orbit by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's Mars Color Imager (MARCI). The Red Planet's polar ice-cap is in the middle of the image. Captured in this image is a 37,000 square-kilometer (almost 23,000 miles) dust storm that moved counter-clockwise through the Phoenix landing site on Oct 11, 2008, or Sol 135 of the mission. Viewing this image as if it were the face of a clock, Phoenix is shown as a small white dot, located at about 10 AM. The storm, which had already passed over the landing site earlier in the day, is located at about 9:30 AM. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems