APOD
Polar Polygons on Mars
July 14, 2004Malin Space Science Systems,
MOC,
MGS,
JPL,
NASA
About This Image
What's the best way to the city center? What looks like a street map of some city on Earth is actually a series of naturally-formed fragmented polar polygons on Mars. The existence of polar polygons on Mars is particularly interesting as they may indicate regions where water ice lies within a few meters of the surface. Similar looking polygons are commonly found in the arctic and Antarctic of Earth, where they typically form from a repetitive cycle of freezing and thawing. The above image spans a distance of about 3 kilometers and was taken recently by the orbiting Mars Global Surveyor.
On This Day in Space History
On July 14, 2015, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft made its closest approach to Pluto, revealing stunning details of the dwarf planet.
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