This giant map of minerals on Mars is a piece of modern art
Image Credit:wired
The photos, which were captured using the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM)
Image Credit:reporterwings
a device aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, may appear to be works of digital art but are actually maps of Mars (MRO).
Since 2006, this spacecraft has been in orbit around Mars, taking pictures of the planet with cameras like HiRISE and collecting data with spectrometers and radar
CRISM is a spectrometer, which means it divides light into several wavelengths to determine an object's composition.
Researchers can examine the geology of the planet from orbit by using different colours in the maps below to depict certain minerals on the Martian surface.
In the form of a 5.6 gigapixel image in 72 colours, NASA just unveiled the first section of a highly detailed map of practically the whole surface of Mars
Image Credit:theconversation
The final map was assembled from more than 50,000 pieces, each of which was a strip roughly 330 miles long and six miles broad
This map depicts the overall reflectivity of each area of the Martian surface, with redder areas
representing areas with more bright red dust and darker areas representing areas with more rock and less dust.