Image Credit: Viking Project, USGS, NASA
Explanation: The largest canyon in the Solar System cuts a wide swath across the
face of Mars. Named Valles Marineris, the
grand valley extends over 3,000 kilometers long, spans as much as 600 kilometers
across, and delves as much as 8 kilometers deep. By comparison, the Earth's Grand Canyon in
Arizona, USA is 800 kilometers long, 30 kilometers across, and 1.8 kilometers
deep. The origin of the Valles Marineris
remains unknown, although a leading hypothesis holds that it started as a crack billions of years ago as the planet cooled.
Several geologic processes have been identified in the
canyon. The above
mosaic was created
from over 100 images of Mars taken by Viking Orbiters in
the 1970s.
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