There are still so many things we don’t know about Mars, but thanks to some recently released photos, we looked much better at the equivalent of the Red Planet with the Grand Canyon. Although, it is not exactly: the one on Mars – called Valles Marineris – is almost 10 times longer and three times deeper than ours on Earth. And while scientists still don’t know how the canyon formed, these new ones images from ongoing research at University of Arizona (UA) in Tucson gives some more clues. Here’s how to take a look at photos from outside this world (sorry).
What makes this canyon so special?
Basically, there are two things: it is massive and mysterious. On Space.com:
Known as the Valles Marineris, this system of deep and vast canyons runs over 4,000 km along the Martian equator, covering almost a quarter of the planet’s circumference. This piece of the base rock of Mars is almost 10 times longer than the Grand Canyon of the Earth and three times deeper, making it the largest canyon in the solar system and … one of the most mysterious.
Given how hot and dry Mars is, scientists don’t think it was Valles Marineris carved by running water, such as the Grand Canyon. Although, researchers in European Space Agency (ESA) they said there was evidence that running water could have deepened some of the canyon’s existing canals – even though it was hundreds of millions of years ago.
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How to see the new images of the canyon on Mars
These are the most recent photos released using an incredibly high-resolution camera called HiRISE (short for High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) that is aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. To see these, or any of the other photos of the canyon (or taken from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter), visit the University of Arizona at HiRISE in Tucson.