Festive silhouettes near Mars’ south pole

Our planetary neighbours are getting into the holiday spirit with this pair of festive silhouettes spotted by ESA’s Mars Express. The defined wings of an angelic figure, complete with halo, can be seen sweeping up and off the top of the frame in this image from Mars Express’ High Resolution Stereo Camera, while a large heart sits just right of centre. The dark colour of these two shapes is due to the composition of the constituent dune fields, which largely contain sands rich in dark, rock-forming minerals that are also found on Earth.

This image comprises data gathered by ESA’s Mars Express using its High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on 8 November 2020 (orbit 21305). The ground resolution is approximately 15 m/pixel and the images are centred at about 148°E/78°S. This image was created using data from the nadir and colour channels of the HRSC. The nadir channel is aligned perpendicular to the surface of Mars, as if looking straight down at the surface. North is to the left.

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