Mars and Monstrous Olympus Mons

[drclay]

The Volcanos of Mars
UPDATED IMAGE, Sept 4
In this view of Mars from September 4, the amount of topographical detail is extraordinary.  The region showing is
THARSIS, broad flattened plains of the Red Planet dotten by huge volcanic cones; several such mountains can be detected in this image.

In all ASO planetary images SOUTH is up; you can see a small remnant of the South Polar Cap (top of the planet) along with some associated very high fog clouds near the SPC.

Olympus Mons is the "pimple" appear feature near the bottom of the planet and slightly to the left, showing a distinct shadow left of the conic peak, with sunlight striking it from the right.  This time during Mars' orbit is particularly good for capturing and actually visually SEEING this volcano, since the sunlight relative to earth is still striking Mars obliquely, creating great topographic 3-D relief as shown in this remarkable image.

As Mars approaches opposition in late October and early November, sunlight will be striking very much head-on from the same direction as earth viewers, and thus Mars will attain a more "flat" appearance.