If you think Earth’s mountains are tall, Mars has them beat by a mile—or several, actually. NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter recently captured a striking image of Arsia Mons, a volcano on Mars that stands about 12 miles high. For comparison, that’s roughly twice the height of Mauna Loa in Hawaii, Earth’s biggest volcano. The Mars Odyssey orbiter has been circling the planet since 2001, continuing to send back useful data and images for researchers on Earth.
What makes this new image interesting is how Arsia Mons rises above a layer of early morning clouds. The photo, taken in early May, shows the volcano’s summit poking through the clouds, which isn’t something scientists have seen from this angle before. The Odyssey spacecraft had to rotate 90 degrees to get this unique perspective, making the view possible.
Arsia Mons is part of a group of three volcanoes called the Tharsis Montes. It’s known for being the cloudiest of the trio, especially during a period in Mars’ year when the planet is farthest from the sun. During this time, water ice clouds often form around the volcanoes, and the new image gives researchers a better look at how these clouds interact with the Martian landscape.
According to Jonathon Hill, who works with Odyssey’s camera team, they specifically aimed to catch the volcano’s peak above the clouds—and the results matched their expectations. These kinds of images help scientists study both the volcanoes themselves and the Martian atmosphere, including how dust and clouds change with the seasons.
