Picture of the day - August 7, 2006

Valles Marineres - The Grand Canyon Of Mars

Photo courtesy of NASA.   Today's picture features the planet Mars and Valles Marineres, the largest canyon in our solar system. As you can see, at 1864 miles in length, Valles Marineres (the long gray feature) covers much of the diameter of the planet. And since it is a whopping 5 miles deep, our own Grand Canyon is but a shallow ditch by comparison! Although there is no way to know for sure how Valles Marineres was created, the most widely accepted theory is that billions of years ago the planet cooled off and a large crack began to spread across the surface. Over the eons, various forces of nature worked along the length of the crack resulting in many interesting geologic features. When humans finally get around to exploring the surface of Mars in person, there is little doubt that Valles Marineres will be one of the first surface features to be visited. After all, with an 1864 mile long and 5 mile deep crack in the planet's surface, it will be quite easy to garner many details about the composition of our most earthlike planetary neighbor. Picture Of The Day Homepage | Submit a photo Interesting Articles