Frosty Mars crater sparkles in new NASA photo
By Samantha Mathewson published 5 days ago
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter photographed a Martian crater located near 37 degrees south latitude. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona)
Frost extends across the surface of a southern crater on Mars in a new photo of the Red Planet.
The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) onboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) captured the image of Mars' frosty surface, according to a statement from the agency.
Winters on Mars can be very cold, with temperatures near the poles dropping to minus 195 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 125 degrees Celsius). In turn, a layer of carbon dioxide frost, or dry ice, may form on the surface of some areas of the planet.
By the middle of the four-month winter, frost can spread from the poles down to the middle latitudes of the planets, or about 50 degrees latitude, where it starts to melt under the warm rays of the sun. This is equivalent to about the latitude of southern Canada on Earth, according to the NASA statement.
More:
https://www.space.com/mars-frosty-crater-nasa-orbiter-photo