Images: Google maps life on Mars

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Google Mars

Google Maps has collaborated with NASA researchers at Arizona State University to present brightly colored, detailed maps of the Red Planet.
The opening screen shows a wide range of features: volcanoes, rivers, plains--pretty much what an Earth geographical map looks like.

Published: July 20, 2006 -- 14:45 GMT (07:45 PDT)
Caption by: Bill Detwiler
Spirit landing

The easiest way to use the map is to click on a category on top and then click on the matches. Under "Spacecraft" you can find the landing site of the Mars Rover Spirit.

Published: July 20, 2006 -- 14:45 GMT (07:45 PDT)
Caption by: Bill Detwiler
Visible

For a shaded relief map of Mars, click on "Visible" and you'll get a mosaic of images from the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor.
Google Mars says it chose a gray-scale to better highlight images over the planet's true color which looks like butterscotch.

Published: July 20, 2006 -- 14:45 GMT (07:45 PDT)
Caption by: Bill Detwiler
Infrared

The infrared map is taken from wavelengths that are invisible to the human eye. Higher resolution mosaics are highlighted within the image.

Published: July 20, 2006 -- 14:45 GMT (07:45 PDT)
Caption by: Bill Detwiler
mountains

To find out about Martian geographical features, click on a category and then one of the search results. Clicking on the feature's name will bring up a NASA article which explains the feature in more detail.

Published: July 20, 2006 -- 14:45 GMT (07:45 PDT)
Caption by: Bill Detwiler
Face on Mars

This map shows where the "Face on Mars" was found and lets you read the story behind its legend.

Published: July 20, 2006 -- 14:45 GMT (07:45 PDT)
Caption by: Bill Detwiler
zoom back

From the farthest zoom back, you can see the map repeats three times.

Published: July 20, 2006 -- 14:45 GMT (07:45 PDT)
Caption by: Bill Detwiler