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What it is : A rupture vale called Noctis Labyrinthus ( " labyrinth of night " )
When it was loose : Jan. 24 , 2024
Noctis Labyrinthus, as seen by Mars Express.
Where it is : Between Valles Marineris and Tharsis onMars
Why it ’s so special : Noctis Labyrinthus is unlike anywhere else in thesolar organisation . Around 739 miles ( 1,190 kilometers ) long , 19 miles ( 30 kilometer ) wide and 4 nautical mile ( 6 kilometre ) deep , it ’s a rift valley neighborhood ofMarsstudded with sand dunes , canyons and landslide .
A newfangled labeled and zoomable image published this calendar week by theEuropean Space Agency(ESA ) number from data point collected by ESA ’s Mars Express spacecraft , which has been orbiting the Red Planet since December 2003 . In October 2023 , ESA unloose aflyover video of the same regionthat used images from Mars Express and topographic data to recreate the landscape painting in 3D.
In the new persona , the original land level can still be seen , though much of the priming coat has eroded . That ’s because volcanism has stimulate the surface to extend upward , thin the planet ’s cheekiness and forming crack .
Noctis Labyrinthus is between the westerly sharpness of Valles Marineris , an all-encompassing canyon system make out as the " Grand Canyon " of Mars , and Tharsis , the large volcanic region on Mars , which contain 12 large volcanoes .
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During its almost 20 years of science , Mars Express has provided spectacular figure of speech of the Red Planet and traced the history of piddle across its Earth’s surface , provide evidence that Mars once had environmental conditions suitable for liveliness .
How to see it in the night sky : Although it ’s potential to see Mars just before sunrise , the planet looks its brightest stopping point to opposition , when it ’s closest to Earth . That occurs every 26 months and will next happen on Jan. 15 , 2025 .
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