Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                 2025 May 17
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                 Ares 3 Landing Site: The Martian Revisited
        Image Credit: [3]HiRISE, [4]MRO, [5]LPL (U. Arizona), [6]NASA

   Explanation: [7]This close-up from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's
   HiRISE camera shows weathered craters and windblown deposits in
   southern [8]Acidalia Planitia. A striking shade of blue in standard
   HiRISE image colors, to the human eye the area would probably look grey
   or a little reddish. But human eyes have not gazed across this terrain,
   unless you count the eyes of NASA astronauts in the sci-fi novel,
   "[9]The Martian," by Andy Weir. The novel chronicles the adventures of
   Mark Watney, an astronaut stranded at the fictional Mars mission Ares 3
   landing site, corresponding to the coordinates of this cropped HiRISE
   frame. For scale, Watney's 6-meter-diameter habitat at the site would
   be about 1/10th the diameter of the large crater. [10]Of course, the
   Ares 3 landing coordinates are only about 800 kilometers north of the
   (real life) Carl [11]Sagan Memorial Station, the 1997 [12]Pathfinder
   landing site.

                     Tomorrow's picture: fly over pluto
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    Authors & editors: [24]Robert Nemiroff ([25]MTU) & [26]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([27]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Amber Straughn [28]Specific rights apply.
              [29]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [30]ASD at [31]NASA / [32]GSFC,
                         [33]NASA Science Activation
                           & [34]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2505/PIA19363.jpg
   3. http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/
   4. http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/
   5. http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/
   6. https://www.nasa.gov/
   7. http://www.uahirise.org/ESP_040776_2115
   8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_plains_on_Mars
   9. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martian_(Weir_novel)
  10. https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/nasas-journey-mars/
  11. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-renames-mars-lander-in-honor-of-late-carl-sagan
  12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250510.html
  13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250516.html
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  17. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  22. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=250517
  23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250518.html
  24. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  25. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  26. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  27. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  29. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  30. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  31. https://www.nasa.gov/
  32. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  33. https://science.nasa.gov/learners
  34. http://www.mtu.edu/