Phoenix Camera Snaps Frost on Mars

By Nancy Atkinson - August 16, 2008 at 6:01 PM UTC | Planetary Science
frost-on-mars.jpg

[/caption] It's getting a little nippy at night on Mars. The Phoenix lander's Surface Stereo Imager took this image at 6 a.m. on Sol 79 (August 14, 2008 here on Earth), and a thin layer of water frost is visible on the ground around the landing area. From subsequent images, the frost begins to disappear shortly after this image was taken as the sun rises on the Phoenix landing site.

The sun was about 22 degrees above the horizon when the image was taken, enhancing the detail of the polygons, troughs and rocks around the landing site.

This view is looking east southeast with the lander's eastern solar panel visible in the bottom lefthand corner of the image. The rock in the foreground is informally named "Quadlings" and the rock near center is informally called "Winkies."

This false color image has been enhanced to show color variations.

Earlier images taken in June, and put together here in sequence to form a movie, appears to show frost forming on Phoenix's own legs.

[caption id="attachment_16914" align="alignnone" width="432" caption="What appears to be frost appears on Phoenix's legs. Credit: Wanderingspace.net"]

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But this isn't the first time that frost has been imaged on Mars. The Viking lander took the picture below in 1979 of its landing site at Utopia Planetia showing ample amounts of frost on the surface. [caption id="attachment_16922" align="alignnone" width="420" caption="frost on Mars in a photograph taken by the Viking 2 lander on May 18, 1979. NASA/JPL "]

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In other news, the Phoenix lander also announced on

Twitter

that it has opened another TEGA oven door in preparation for receiving another sample of Martian soil to "bake and sniff."

New Source:

Phoenix Image Gallery

,

Wanderingspace.net

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com