Cerberus

Mosaic of the Cerberus hemisphere of Mars projected into point perspective, a view similar to that which one would see from a spacecraft. The viewer's distance is 2,000 kilometers above the surface of the planet. The mosaic is composed of 104 Viking Orbiter Images. The images were acquired on February 11, 1980 during orbit 1,323 of Viking Orbiter 1.

At that time, it was early northern summer on Mars (aerocentric solar longitude 65 degrees) and the sub-solar declination was 22.6 degrees N. The center of this image is at latitude 12 degrees and longitude 190 degrees. There are thin white clouds dispersed over the northern hemisphere.

Other prominent features in this image include the large dark area left of the image center known as Cerberus. The Elysium volcanic construct shows as a bright yellow area north of Cerberus, with several well defined channels radiating from the flanks of this volcano. Just to the right of the center of the image is the crater Tettit, with its peculiar dark "tail" extending to the southwest. The arcuate markings on the upper right of the image are in the south-west Amazonis plains and are thought to be extended sand drifts. The three bright spots north of Cerberus, upper left of image, are volcanoes partially veiled by thin clouds.

Martian Atmosphere Observations

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