Aurorae Chaos and Ganges Chasma

This image focuses on a section of Aurorae Chaos and Ganges Chasma on Mars.

Aurorae Chaos measures roughly 710 km across (a smaller section is shown here) and plunges some 4.8 km below the surrounding terrain.

Vast volumes of water once flooded through this deep chasm on Mars that connects the ‘Grand Canyon’ of the Solar System – Valles Marineris – to the planet’s northern lowlands.

The image was acquired by the High Resolution Stereo Camera on Mars Express on 16 July 2015 during orbit 14653. The image is centred on 8ºS/320ºE. The ground resolution is about 17 m per pixel.

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