Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Explore The Surface Of Mars With This New Interactive Map

Mars
A new, highly detailed map of Mars is available to anyone that wants to take a peak. The map is available in an interactive format like Google Earth and is currently the best map of mars ever created.

The map was put together with the help of NASA's THEMIS orbiter and by scientists from Arizona State University Mars Space Flight Facility, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at NASA and of course, Microsoft.

The easy to use interactive map lets you zoom in, zoom out of the mars surface, look for volcanoes, craters and little green men. It's sure to keep you entertained for a little while. At least, I was pretty entertained with it.

Want to see the map?
You can find the interactive map of mars here. There are also extremely high resolution pictures available for the more serious bunch. You will need a good computer to use them though. The map has been in development since launching THEMIS observations back in 2007.

What is THEMIS?
All of the map images come from the THEMIS (Thermal Emission Imaging System), which is a camera attached to NASA'S Mars Odyssey orbiter.

Happy exploring!
Source: ASU

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