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CO<sub><font size="-2">2</font></sub> Hourglass

April 24, 2006
This NASA Mars Global Surveyor image shows a portion of the south polar residual cap of Mars. The bright, relatively homogeneous-appearing material extending from top (north) to bottom (south) is mainly composed of solid carbon dioxide.

24 April 2006
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a portion of the south polar residual cap of Mars. The bright, relatively homogeneous-appearing material extending from top (north) to bottom (south) is mainly composed of solid carbon dioxide. During the martian summer months, sublimation, the direct conversion of a solid to a gas, causes the scarps that delineate the edges of the bright material to retreat by approximately 3 meters (around 10 feet) before autumn begins.

Location near: 87.1°S, 94.0°W
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi)
Illumination from: upper left
Season: Southern Summer

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