Cerberus

Credit: USGS, The Viking Project, NASA

One more hemispherical view of Mars to present, this being of Cerberus. Like the previous two pictures, this photo mosaic was taken by the Viking 1 Orbiter in February 1980 when Mars’ northern hemisphere was in the early summer. The view is from 2,000 kilometers above the surface. In this picture, there are thin white clouds scattered above the northern hemisphere.

Some of the prominent features in this image include the large dark area left of the image center known as Cerberus. The Elysium Planitia volcanic region shows as a bright yellow area north of Cerberus, with several well defined channels radiating from the flanks of this volcano. Just to the right of the center of the image is the crater Tettit, with its peculiar dark "tail" extending to the southwest. The arcuate markings on the upper right of the image are in the south-west Amazonis plains and are thought to be extended sand drifts. The three bright spots north of Cerberus, upper left of image, are volcanoes partially veiled by thin clouds.