
Mars Orbiter Captures Rare View of Ancient Volcano Poking Above the Clouds
Floating in orbit above Mars, NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter captured a panorama of the Red Planet's biggest volcanoes, Arsia Mons, peeking over a sea of clouds. The picturesque moment offers an exceptionally rare view of a Martian volcano, showing the landform at an angle in space that captures the planet's horizon.
'We picked Arsia Mons hoping we would see the summit poke above the early morning clouds. And it didn't disappoint,' Jonathon Hill, the operations lead for Odyssey's camera and a mission planner at Arizona State University's Mars Space Flight Facility, called the Thermal Emission Imaging System, or THEMIS, said in a statement. THEMIS can view Mars in both visible and infrared light.
Launched in 2001, Odyssey has been circling around Mars for over two decades, studying the Martian surface. But in 2023, the orbiter began taking breathtaking panoramic views of the Martian horizon. Because THEMIS can't pivot to get these stunning views, the orbiter flips on its side, rotating a full 90 degrees. That way, it captured Mars' 'limb,' the edge of the planet's horizon. This is THEMIS' fourth limb observation since 2023.
Odyssey captured the image on May 2, just before dawn. In it, Arsia Mons stands 12 miles (20 kilometers) high and measures 70 miles (450 km) in diameter. For comparison, Earth's tallest volcano, Mauna Loa, stands 6 miles (9 km) above the seafloor and measures 75 miles (121 km) in diameter.
Arsia Mons is also one of Mars' cloudiest volcanoes and the southernmost of the three Tharsis volcanoes that form Tharsis Montes, or Tharsis Mountains. These mountains are often surrounded by water ice clouds, particularly early in the morning. The clouds form when air expands as it blows up the sides of the mountain and then rapidly cools.
This view also allows scientists to study Martian weather and phenomena like dust clouds and how they change over the course of the seasons. Odyssey might be able to capture a few more of these panoramas before its eventual retirement, likely at the end of this year.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
What a Spiral in the Oort Cloud Could Mean for Life on Earth
A routine planetarium show at New York's Hayden Planetarium just triggered a potentially historic discovery in astrophysics. While curating scenes for 'Encounters in the Milky Way,' a team of scientists and animators stumbled across something surprising: a spiral structure hidden within the data modeling the Oort Cloud, which is one of the most mysterious regions in our solar system. The Oort Cloud, theorized to be a spherical shell of icy objects orbiting far beyond Neptune, has long remained unseen. Yet when astrophysicist Jackie Faherty noticed the unexpected shape during a simulation, she called in Oort Cloud expert David Nesvorny to investigate, according to a CNN report. It wasn't an animation glitch. It was real data. Nesvorny, who had generated the simulation, admitted he'd never viewed his data in three-dimensional Cartesian coordinates. When he did, the spiral structure emerged clearly. 'Weird way to discover things,' he said. 'I should know my data better.' This accidental find prompted Nesvorny to run weeks of simulations on NASA's Pleiades Supercomputer. Every model confirmed it: a spiral, caused not by the sun's gravity alone, but by the galactic tide—the pull of the Milky Way's own gravitational field acting on the outermost parts of our solar system. Ultimately, he published the findings in The Astrophysics Journal. The discovery reshapes long-held assumptions. While the outer Oort Cloud might still be spherical, the inner part appears to twist in a spiral pattern, suggesting our solar system is more dynamically connected to the galaxy than once thought. Still, verifying the spiral won't be easy. The icy bodies in the Oort Cloud are too small and distant to observe directly. Even with the powerful new Vera C. Rubin Observatory, scientists expect to find only a handful—far short of the numbers needed to fully confirm the structure. But as Faherty put it, the dome of a planetarium can now double as a tool of discovery. 'This is science that hasn't had time to reach your textbook yet,' she said. What a Spiral in the Oort Cloud Could Mean for Life on Earth first appeared on Men's Journal on Jun 11, 2025

Engadget
2 hours ago
- Engadget
NASA is shutting down some official social media accounts, including the Curiosity rover's handle
NASA is shutting down several social media accounts run by the Science Mission Directorate, including the official Mars Curiosity Rover account on X. The organization says it made the decision in order to "make its work more accessible to the public, avoiding the potential for oversaturation or confusion." The "social media consolidation project" is concentrated in part on X, where there are dozens NASA accounts affiliated with specific missions and areas of research. So far 29 accounts are being archived or consolidated with other accounts, including @MarsCuriosity and @NASAPersevere, the two accounts for the organization's Mars rovers. Posts about both missions will now come from the more general @NASAMars. Some social media accounts will also "rebranded to better align with the new strategic framework," NASA says, "reflecting a broader scope or a more direct connection to core NASA initiatives." With "over 400 individual accounts across 15 platforms" it's not exactly unreasonable that NASA is trying to streamline things, but there is some much appreciated specificity lost when news and information is coming from a more general account. NASA's Curiosity is beloved and the agency's research into Mars was likely more well-known because the social media account made identifying with the rover easier. Beyond social media accounts, NASA could be heading into next year with far fewer resources in general. The Trump administration's proposed 2026 budget includes around a $6 billion cut to NASA's funding. The limited resources could lead to multiple planned missions being cancelled The Washington Post reports, including sending a probe to Venus, taking mineral samples from asteroids and studying gravitational waves with the European Space Agency.


Geek Tyrant
3 hours ago
- Geek Tyrant
Mia Goth Teases Guillermo del Toro's FRANKENSTEIN: 'People Are Going to Love How Epic it Is" — GeekTyrant
Guillermo del Toro's long-gestating Frankenstein is finally happening, and if you've been waiting for a version that honors the emotional weight and gothic grandeur of Mary Shelley's original novel, Mia Goth says you're in for something special. Goth, who plays Elizabeth Lavenza in the film, shared some insight during a red carpet chat with Entertainment Tonight at Netflix's TUDUM 2025 event. Her comments tease a film that is dark and dramatic, but also deeply human and visually massive. 'I think people are going to love how epic it is, and the scale of it, it's such a feast. But I think they will also be incredibly moved by it and maybe surprised by how much heart went into this. It's a lifelong project for Guillermo.' Del Toro's passion for Frankenstein is strong. Back in 2007, he said that he 'would kill to make' a faithful 'Miltonian tragedy' version of Shelley's novel. He's been dreaming of it for years, and now, thanks to Netflix, it's finally coming. The cast features Jacob Elordi takes on the iconic role of the monster, a transformation that left Goth floored: she says she was 'totally amazed' and 'just in awe.' Elordi is stepping into the shoes of one of horror's most misunderstood figures, and it sounds like he's doing so with style. Meanwhile, Oscar Isaac plays Victor Frankenstein, and Christoph Waltz appears in an as-yet-unnamed but reportedly key role. While Frankenstein has been adapted countless times over the last century, from Karloff's legendary performance to more stylized or sci-fi-heavy interpretations, this version promises a return to the emotional and philosophical core of Shelley's 1818 novel. Goth's comments on the film's emphasis on heart, is what separates Del Toro's monster tales from the rest… his creatures are rarely just creatures. They're metaphors, they're misunderstood, and they're always more than they appear. Frankenstein is set to premiere on Netflix in November 2025, and I'm incredibly excited about seeing Del Toro's vision for this story.