This stunning visualisation of Mars' gigantic 'Labyrinth of Night' will blow your mind
Mars
The European Space Agency has shared a stunning new video showing the vastness of Mars' gigantic 2,500 miles (4,023.36 km) long 'Labyrinth of Night' — a1190-kilometre-long valley (roughly the length of Italy).
'Labyrinth of Night'
The fascinating video visualises a flyover of the Mars Express' High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC). It has been created by using an image mosaic built over eight orbits.
The valley called Noctis Labyrinthus or the Labyrinth of Night, is nestled between the colossal Martian Valles Marineris — the red planet's equivalent of Earth's Grand Canyon, and the tallest volcano in the Solar System — located in the Tharsis region.
Martian terrain
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The video, as per a statement by the European Space Agency, presents a "perspective view down and across this fascinating landscape, showing distinctive 'graben'—parts of the crust that have subsided in relation to their surroundings."
You can watch ESA's stunning Mars terrain video here:
A graben, as per the space agency, is a type of crust that forms when a block of the planet's crust drops between two faults, due to extension, or pulling, of the crust.
How are these spectacular features formed?
The intense volcanism in the nearby Tharsis region is to blame for the formation of these features. ESA explains that due to volcanism, large areas of the Martian crust arch upwards and "become stretched and tectonically stressed, leading to it thinning out, faulting and subsiding."
The high plateaus visible in the video represent the original surface level of the planet, which, due to volcanic activity, underwent changes. These valleys, as per ESA estimates, are up to 30 kilometres wide and six metres deep.
Mars Express
ESA mission Mars Express has been orbiting the barren planet for 20 years — since 2003. The mission objectives include mapping Mars' surface, and its minerals, a study of the tenuous atmosphere, probing what lies beneath the red planet's crust and exploring how various phenomena interact in the Martian environment.
(With inputs from agencies)
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