February 22, 2012
Credits: NASA/JPL/Cornell - MER Opportunity - Credits for the additional process..: Dr Paolo C. Fienga/Lunar Explorer Italia/IPF
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Meridiani Planum is the name of a very large Plain Region of Mars and, as it can be clearly seen through most of the pictures taken by the NASA - Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Opportunity, this Region is extremely flat and heavily cratered (as a matter of fact, the only elevation points visible in Meridiani Planum seem to be the Rims of a few large Impact Craters). The Region of Meridiani Planum lies near the Martian Equator and it is also close to the Prime Meridian of the Red Planet (remember that the"Prime Meridian" is the place where the Longitude is equal to 0 - zero). Many NASA Scientists think that in a far distant past (probably millions of years ago) there might have been water at Meridiani Planum and, to be more specific, they think that, where now there are only long Ripples and Sand Dunes (like today's picture shows very well), once there might have been a Sea (or even an Ocean) characterized by the fact that it should have had quite shallow waters. One good evidence supporting this fascinating (and, as IPF, we believe extremely realistic) theory is the abundant presence, all over the Region, of a mineral that usually forms in presence of water: such as Hematite. This Right Navigation Camera (NavCam) Non-linearized full frame EDR was acquired on Sol 378 of Opportunity's Mission to Meridiani Planum at approximately 13:30:54 Mars Local Solar Time and then it has been colorized in Absolute Natural Colors by (such as the colors that a human eye would actually perceive if someone were near the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Opportunity and then looked around, towards the Horizon), by using an original technique created - and, in time, dramatically improved - by the Lunar Explorer Italia Team. |
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