Mars photographed by Viking 1 Orbiter before landing

[KSC-74P-0300]

  • Photo Number: KSC-74P-0300

  • Release Date: 11-Feb-1974

    • Description: Half-Mars hangs in space 685,000 kilometers (425,000 miles) above Viking 1 as the spacecraft approaches the planet. This picture was taken at 6:40 p.m. PDT on June 16 by one of two telescope- equipped TV cameras aboard the Viking 1 Orbiter. A violet filter was used. Resolution is approximately 17 kilometers (10.5 miles) at center of disk. North is toward upper right and the south pole is in the dark to the lower left. We are looking at the morning side of the planet; that is, the planet is rotating from left to right. Toward the bottom of the image is a very bright irregular feature within a somewhat less bright circular feature. The circular feature is Hellas, a 2,000-kilometer- (1,250-mile) diameter impact basin. Numerous craters are just visible within the frost-covered region. To the south of Hellas is another brighter area. This is probably an area of discontinuous frost cover around the south pole. The image is very bright toward the edge of the planet because of atmospheric scattering in the violet. Viking 1 will begin orbiting Mars on Saturday, June 19, with the landing planned for July 4. The Viking Project is managed by the NASA Langley Reseach Center, Hampton, Va.

    Resolution Format Width
    (Pixels)    		 Height
    (Pixels)    		 Size
    (Bytes)
    Thumbnail GIF 78 100 11835
    Slide GIF 121 156 27464
    Low GIF 188 240 64564
    Medium JPEG 602 768 27626
    High JPEG 2094 2670 372071

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    Photos By: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
    Scanned By: Seven/Still Photo Imaging
    Captions: Information Dynamics, Inc (Kay Grinter, Anita Barrett, and Elaine Liston)
    Curator: NASA/KSC Internet Systems Lab (Dumoulin, Downs, Paladino)
    Last Updated: Tuesday August 28 14:18:18 EDT 2001 (Anita Barrett)

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