                          THEMIS: Image Detail

                                                                        
  [1                                                                    
  ]                                                                     
                                                                        
  [2                                                                    
  ]                                                                     
                                                                        
       [3]                                                              
                                                                        
                        [4]                                             
                                                                        
       [5]                                                              
                                                                        
  [6]                                                                   
                                                                        
  [7                                                                    
  ]                                                                     
                                                                        
  [8                                                                    
  ]                                                                     
                                                                        
  [9                                                                    
  ]                                                                     
                                                                        
  [1                                                                    
  0]                                                                    
                                                                        
  [1                                                                    
  1]                                                                    
                                                                        
  [1                                                                    
  2]                                                                    
                                                                        
  [1                                                                    
  3]                                                                    
                                                                        
         Return to                                                      
         index [14]                                                     
                                                                        
         Gullies of                                                     
          Gorgonus                                                      
           Chaos                                                        
        (Released 11                                                    
         June 2002)                                                     
                                                                        
            [15]                                                        
                                                                        
       Image Context:                                                   
                                                                        
       Context image                                                    
       credit:                                                          
       NASA/Mars                                                        
       Orbiter Laser                                                    
       Altimeter                                                        
       (MOLA) Team                                                      
                                                                        
         [ Find on                                                      
            map:                                                        
         Javascript                                                     
       [16]  version                                                    
             ]                                                          
                                                                        
         [ Find on                                                      
       map: CGI [17]                                                    
         version ]                                                      
                                                                        
        The Science                                  The Story          
                                                                        
       This                                   This fractured, almost    
       fractured                              spooky-looking surface    
       surface                                belongs to a region       
       belongs to a                           called Gorgonum Chaos     
       portion of a                           in the southern           
       region called                          hemisphere of Mars.       
       Gorgonum                               Chaos is a term used      
       Chaos located                          for regions of Mars       
       in the                                 with distinctive areas    
       southern                               of broken terrain like    
       hemisphere of                          the one seen above.       
       Mars.                                  This area of Martian      
       Gorgonum                               chaos is named after      
       Chaos is                               the Gorgons in ancient    
       named after                            Greek mythology. The      
       the Gorgons                            Gorgons were monstrous    
       in ancient                             sisters with snakes for   
       Greek                                  hair, tusks like boars,   
       mythology.                             and lolling tongues,      
       The Gorgons                            who lived in caves. The   
       were                                   Gorgons, including        
       monstrous                              famous sister Medusa,     
       sisters with                           could turn a person to    
       snakes for                             stone, and their          
       hair, tusks                            writhing, snakelike       
       like boars                             locks cause revulsion     
       and lolling                            to this day. Given the    
       tongues who                            afflicted nature of       
       lived in                               this contorted terrain,   
       caves. As it                           with all of its           
       turns out                              twisted, branching        
       this is                                channels and hard,        
       indeed a                               stony-looking hills in    
       fitting name                           the top half of the       
       for this                               image, this is indeed a   
       region of                              fitting name for this     
       Mars because                           region of Mars.           
       it contains a                                                    
       high density                           The name also has great   
       of gullies                             appeal, because the       
       that ?snake?                           area contains a high      
       their way                              density of gullies that   
       down the                               ?snake? their way down    
       walls of the                           the walls of the          
       troughs                                troughs located in this   
       located in                             region of Martian         
       this region                            chaos. Gullies are        
       of chaos.                              trenches cut into the     
       Upon closer                            land as accelerated       
       examination                            streams of water (or      
       one finds                              another liquid) erode     
       that these                             the surface. To see       
       gullies and                            these, click on the       
       alluvial                               above image to get a      
       deposits,                              high-resolution view,     
       initially                              and then focus on the     
       discovered by                          trenches at the bottom.   
       Mars Global                            Running down the walls    
       Surveyor, are                          of the trough are the     
       visible on                             thin, dark lines of the   
       the trough                             gullies. Beneath the      
       walls (best                            grooved, gully channels   
       seen near the                          are faint,                
       bottom of the                          softer-looking fans of    
       image). These                          material. These are       
       gullies                                called alluvial           
       appear to                              deposits. Alluvial        
       emanate from                           simply means all of the   
       a specific                             sand, gravel, and dirt    
       layer in the                           that is carried and       
       walls. The                             deposited by a liquid.    
       gullies have                           On Earth, that liquid     
       been proposed                          is typically water. As    
       to have                                the liquid carves the     
       formed by the                          gully, the eroded         
       subsurface                             material from the         
       release of                             channels get carried      
       water.                                 along and deposited       
                                              below in fan-like         
       [Source: ASU                           shapes.                   
       THEMIS                                                           
       Science Team]                          These gully features      
                                              were initially            
                                              discovered by Odyssey's   
                                              sister orbiter, Mars      
                                              Global Surveyor, and      
                                              caused quite a bit of     
                                              emotional chaos in the    
                                              scientific community      
                                              when they were            
                                              announced. Why? If you    
                                              look closely, you can     
                                              see that the gullies      
                                              seem to form from a       
                                              specific layer in the     
                                              wall. That is, they all   
                                              seem to begin at          
                                              roughly the same point    
                                              on the wall. That         
                                              suggests that maybe,      
                                              just maybe, there's a     
                                              subsurface source of      
                                              water at that layer       
                                              that sometimes leaks      
                                              out and runs down the     
                                              walls to form both the    
                                              gullies and the           
                                              skirt-like fans of        
                                              deposits beneath them.    
                                              Other scientists,         
                                              however, loudly assert    
                                              that another liquid       
                                              besides water could       
                                              have carved the           
                                              gullies.                  
                                                                        
                                              The debate sometimes      
                                              gets so intense, you'd    
                                              think that the opposing   
                                              sides would want to       
                                              turn each other's ideas   
                                              to stone! But not for     
                                              long. While the debate    
                                              rages on, the neat        
                                              thing is that             
                                              everyone's really         
                                              united. The goal is to    
                                              find out, and the way     
                                              to find out is to keep    
                                              proposing different       
                                              hypotheses and testing    
                                              them out. That's the      
                                              excitement of science,    
                                              where everyone's solid    
                                              research counts, and      
                                              divergent views are       
                                              appreciated for keeping   
                                              science sound.            
                                                                        
                                              [Questions? Email         
                                              marsoutreach@jpl.nasa.go  
                                              v [18] ]                  
                                                                        
                                              [Source: NASA/JPL Mars    
                                              Outreach]                 
                                                                        
       Note: this                                                       
       THEMIS visual                                                    
       image has not                                                    
       been                                                             
       radiometricall                                                   
       y nor                                                            
       geometrically                                                    
       calibrated                                                       
       for this                                                         
       preliminary                                                      
       release. An                                                      
       empirical                                                        
       correction                                                       
       has been                                                         
       performed to                                                     
       remove                                                           
       instrumental                                                     
       effects. A                                                       
       linear shift                                                     
       has been                                                         
       applied in                                                       
       the                                                              
       cross-track                                                      
       and                                                              
       down-track                                                       
       direction to                                                     
       approximate                                                      
       spacecraft                                                       
       and planetary                                                    
       motion. Fully                                                    
       calibrated                                                       
       and                                                              
       geometrically                                                    
       projected                                                        
       images will                                                      
       be released                                                      
       through the                                                      
       Planetary                                                        
       Data System                                                      
       in accordance                                                    
       with Project                                                     
       policies at a                                                    
       later time.                                                      
                                                                        
       NASA's Jet                                                       
       Propulsion                                                       
       Laboratory                                                       
       manages the                                                      
       2001 Mars                                                        
       Odyssey                                                          
       mission for                                                      
       NASA's Office                                                    
       of Space                                                         
       Science,                                                         
       Washington,                                                      
       D.C. The                                                         
       Thermal                                                          
       Emission                                                         
       Imaging                                                          
       System                                                           
       (THEMIS) was                                                     
       developed by                                                     
       Arizona State                                                    
       University,                                                      
       Tempe, in                                                        
       collaboration                                                    
       with Raytheon                                                    
       Santa Barbara                                                    
       Remote                                                           
       Sensing. The                                                     
       THEMIS                                                           
       investigation                                                    
       is led by Dr.                                                    
       Philip                                                           
       Christensen                                                      
       at Arizona                                                       
       State                                                            
       University.                                                      
       Lockheed                                                         
       Martin                                                           
       Astronautics,                                                    
       Denver, is                                                       
       the prime                                                        
       contractor                                                       
       for the                                                          
       Odyssey                                                          
       project, and                                                     
       developed and                                                    
       built the                                                        
       orbiter.                                                         
       Mission                                                          
       operations                                                       
       are conducted                                                    
       jointly from                                                     
       Lockheed                                                         
       Martin and                                                       
       from JPL, a                                                      
       division of                                                      
       the                                                              
       California                                                       
       Institute of                                                     
       Technology in                                                    
       Pasadena.                                                        
                                                                        
       Image Credit:                                                    
       NASA/JPL/Arizo                                                   
       na State                                                         
       University                                                       
                                                                        
           [ Show                                                       
         Full-Size                                                      
        Image (GIF)                                                     
         [19]  ] [                                                      
            Show                                                        
         Full-Size                                                      
        Image (JPG)                                                     
          [20]  ]                                                       
                                                                        
           [ Show                                                       
         Full-Size                                                      
        Image (PNG)                                                     
         [21]  ] [                                                      
            Show                                                        
         Full-Size                                                      
        Image (TIF)                                                     
          [22]  ]                                                       
                                                                        
            Parameter   Value     Parameter   Value                     
                                                                        
             Latitude   -37.4     Instrumen   VIS                       
                                          t                             
                                                                        
            Longitude   170.2W    Resolutio   19                        
                        (189.8E       n (m)                             
                        )                                               
                                                                        
           Image Size   3061x11       Image   58.2x22.7                 
             (pixels)   94        Size (km)                             
                                                                        
                                                                  [23]  
                                                                        
----------
Site notes:
  [1] http://themis.asu.edu/inst.html
  [2] http://themis.asu.edu/goals.html
  [3] http://themis.asu.edu/mission.html
  [4] http://themis.asu.edu/themis_pics.html
  [5] http://themis.asu.edu/themis_team.html
  [6] http://tes.asu.edu/neweducation.html
  [7] http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/odyssey/
  [8] http://tes.asu.edu/
  [9] http://tes.asu.edu/
  [10] http://tes.asu.edu/MINITES/
  [11] http://tes.asu.edu/MINITES/
  [12] http://www.asu.edu/
  [13] http://www.nasa.gov/
  [14] latest.html
  [15] fullimages/20020611a.jpg
  [16]
/mars-bin/
mars_js_map.pl?CENT_LAT=-37.37097176&CENT_LON=170.
1670353&RESCALE=64&TNAIL_LINK=20020611a
  [17]
/mars-bin/
mars_cgi_map.pl?CENT_LAT=-37.37097176&CENT_LON=170.
1670353&RESCALE=64&TNAIL_LINK=20020611a
  [18] mailto:marsoutreach@jpl.nasa.gov
  [19] /fullimages/20020611a.gif
  [20] /fullimages/20020611a.jpg
  [21] /fullimages/20020611a.png
  [22] /fullimages/20020611a.tif
  [23] http://validator.w3.org/check/referer
