There are still so many things we don’t know about Mars, but thanks to some recently published photos, we have seen much better the equivalent of the Grand Canyon of the red planet. Although this is not exactly accurate: that of Mars, called Valles Marineris, is almost ten times longer and three times deeper than ours on Earth. And while scientists still don’t know how the cannon formed, these new ones images of ongoing research in the University of Arizona (UA) in Tucson provides some more clues. Here’s how to take a look at photographs out of this world (sorry).
What makes this cannon so special?
Basically, it’s about two things: it’s massive and mysterious. For Space.com:
Known as Valles Marineris, this system of deep and extensive canyons travels more than 4,000 km along the Martian equator, covering almost a quarter of the planet’s circumference. This crack in the rock of Mars is almost ten times larger than the Grand Canyon of the Earth and three times deeper, making it the largest canyon in the solar system and … one of the most mysterious.
Given the temperature and heat on Mars, scientists do not believe it was Valles Marineris sculpted by running water, like the Grand Canyon. Although, researchers from the European Space Agency (ESA) they have said there is evidence that flowing water may have deepened in some of the canyon’s existing canals, even though that would have been hundreds of millions of years ago.
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How to see the new images of the canyon on Mars
These are the last photos posted with an incredibly high resolution camera called HiRISE (short for High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) located aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. To view these, or any of the other photos in the canyon (or taken from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter), visit the University of Arizona HiRISE website in Tucson.