For Your Astronomers: Mars Orbiter Laser Altimiter (MOLA) Globe

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Link 1: Catalog Page for PIA02993: Mars Orbiter Laser Altimiter (MOLA) Globe

 

The color shaded relief image used as the base for this globe has a resolution of 32 pixels per degree (approximately 1850 m/pixel), and was produced and supplied by the MOLA Science Team (http://ltpwww.gsfc.nasa.gov/tharsis/mola.html). The image is shaded as if illuminated everywhere from the west. The elevations represented in color are with respect to a gravitational equipotential surface whose mean equatorial radius is that of the topography. The Astrogeology Team of the U.S. Geological Survey re-projected the image into the format displayed above.

 

The images are presented in a projection that portrays the entire surface of Mars in a manner suitable for the production of a globe; the number, size, and placement of text annotations were chosen for a 12-inch globe. Prominent features are labeled with names approved by the International Astronomical Union. A specialized program was used to create the "flower petal" appearance of the images; the area of each petal from 0 to 75 degrees latitude is in the Transverse Mercator projection, and the area from 75 to 90 degrees latitude is in the Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area projection. The northern hemisphere of Mars is shown on the left, and the southern hemisphere on the right.

 

http://i.snag.gy/2UW6l.jpg

 

Links to bigger image:

 

Link 2: Mars Orbiter Laser Altimiter (MOLA) Globe [image format: JPG: 11 MB: 11649 x 5723]

 

Link 3: Mars Orbiter Laser Altimiter (MOLA) Globe [image format: TIFF: 158.6 MB]