Have a Happy Day - From Mars
This picture of a crater resembling a “happy face” (click to enlarge) was acquired by the Context Camera (CTX) on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on January 28, 2008.
The unnamed crater is about 1.9 miles (3 kilometers) across. It is located among the Nereidum Montes, north of the Argyre basin. North is toward the right and sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper right. Credit: NASA / JPL / MSSS
This isn’t the first happy-looking crater to be photographed from Mars. A more famous one, otherwise known as Galle crater, has been imaged by Viking, Mars Global Surveyor and by Mars Express (that one made the cover of the March/April 2007 issue of The Planetary Report).
But I really like this one; it’s more goofy.
Doug
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Reader Comments (6)
Cool! I think I saw him in my latte this morning!
me too! the barista at it's a grind gives me a happy face every morning!
And you drank them anyway?!
Amazing when you think about how far Mars is from us and how close our Reconnaissance Orbiter is to it. In my lifetime, we aspired to reach the moon. Now we aspire to explore our universe! Pretty amazing when you think about it.
he looks a little drunk, doesn't he? lol!
It looks to me as though the sun in illuminating from the south rather than the north. Unless that is a mountain on the north causing the shadow there.