'Grand Canyon on Mars': ESA clicks Martian feature that's bigger than the original thing

We Earth-dwellers have Earth-centric idea of the Universe and that's probably fine. From sunrise to sunset (and beyond), we eat, drink, work and sleep on one single planet. Human colonies on Moon and Mars are still in the concept stage. Till then, its one blue planet for us.

Due to our Earth-centric thoughts, its hard to imagine that the largest canyon in the Solar System is not on Earth. Sorry Grand Canyon but a canyon system on Mars takes the cake here. And European Space Agency has clicked a picture of it.

Valles Marineris, the canyon system on Mars, is longer, wider and deepr than Grand Canyon. It is 4000 kilometres long, 200 kilometre wide and upto 7 km deep. These dimensions are much greater than the Grand Canyon. To put things in Indian perspective, the length of Valles Marineris is greater than the distance between Kashmir to Kanyakumari.

Image of the Valles Marineris has been captured by ESA's Mars Express. The image shows two trenches, called Chasma in the western region of Valles Marineris. Left portion of the image is southern direction. 840-kilometre-long lus Chasma is visible there and 805-kilometre-long Tithonium Chasma is visible in the right side of the image. Incredible surface details are present in this high resolution image that captures Valles Marineris that is up to 7 kilometres deep.

The blackened portion in the Tithonium Chasma is black sand. Scientists think that the sand must have come from Tharsis volcanic region.

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