What Mars Looks Like Up Close

With all this talk of Mars, we're even more curious about what it looks like. Now you can check it out, via the Mars Webcam.

With images dating back to 2012, the Mars Webcam photo archive shows Mars from all different angles: different shades of light, different shadows, or different areas where the sun light cuts off, rendering it a crescent like the moon. The VMC, or Visual Monitoring Camera, is mounted onto the Mars Express, the European Space Agency's mission orbiting around Mars.

In May, the Mars Webcam was adopted as a professional scientific instrument by the agency. "The analysis will help us understand the global martian context of data acquired from other instruments, provide data on clouds, dust and atmospheric structures and enable surface features to be accurately characterized, for example, by tracking variations in the Mars polar ice cap," said Agustin Sanchez-Lavega, head of Planetary Sciences Group of the University of the Basque Country, Spain.

The webcam has been helpful with tracking clouds and dust storms, and can help fill gaps in information about the atmosphere surrounding Mars, added Mars Express Project scientist Dmitri Titov, from the European Space Agency.

Nonetheless, the images from the Mars webcam are still open to the public and available for immediate viewing. In fact, the VMC webcam service even encourages the public to access the images to use for their own analysis, sharing, and processing.

"The VMC demonstrates the power of a simple camera for exciting the public about the adventure of space exploration," said Emily Lakdawalla, a Planetary Society blogger and supporter of the VMC.

Take a look at your new home, earthlings.

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